Yuuki: Living Rich
by Watermelonsmellinfellon
Summary: Imagine that one of the background characters in Naruto's graduating class was actually relegated to Side Character status and therefore got a character arc. Follow Yuuki, an orphan who's just a bit off, as she affects everything by just being herself. Except... something's a little odd about the dreams she gets and maybe herself isn't completely her.A/N:Cover Niyuu Trickster Kat
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

If you don't like the themes within, I encourage you to stop reading and go find something else to pass your time with. No one is forcing you to read anything you don't like and the power is literally in your hands to leave. As in, there is side Sasunaru/Narusasu at some point later in this fic when everyone's older and it won't be weird to have romance. If you're a homophobe, I am not the kind of writer for you and your delicate sensibilities. :)

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

I decided that I fucking love OC fics and I love writing them. One of  
my fav writers, Tsume Yuki has an ass load of great OCs. I refuse to  
to be made to feel guilty over this. They have inspired me to do my  
fav thing, and I extend a massive hug and cookie their way for it.

**TAGS for this Chapter:** SWEARING and VIOLENCE.

**裕生 ** \- **Yuuki** \- "**Living Rich**". The kanji used determines what the  
name means. In some cases it can mean "sweet princess" and in  
others it can mean"snow", but in this case, the kanji used means  
"to live rich" basically.

**5,000 Ryo = about $460. 1 Ryo = 10 Yen.**

* * *

Yuuki perfectly remembered the day she transferred out of the normal, civilian school and into the Shinobi Academy of Konohagakure.

She'd been eight at the time, living in the orphanage with dozens of other kids, and just meandering through life with no apparent purpose in sight. In her private time she would sleep if there was no food. If there _was_ food she would eat her share. Sometimes she'd squeak in some reading if she was too restless to relax in any fashion.

Usually she ended up with books about ninja stuff since it was a ninja village and brainwashing the kids at the orphanage with tales of heroism and stuff was the faster way to recruit. Even with no chance of becoming a ninja herself according to the former matron Nono, she'd wanted to know as much as a civilian could know about them. This lead to the discovery of chakra and its varied uses.

Yuuki had chakra. She could feel its warmth. It was like a flame inside her stomach and when she fiddled with it, it would grow. Sometimes when she wanted hard enough, she could make it pool in her hands and spread all along her arms. She tried with the feet too but it was too hard to bother with for too long. But keeping the torso warm was most important anyway since it held most of the body's organs anyway.

There was nothing in the books she had that explained how to use chakra though, so she just messed around on her own and used it to keep warm in the colder months. Konoha wasn't exactly a cold place but winter there was about seventeen degrees cooler and when one is used to 39°C(102.2°F) on the daily, having it drop to 22.2°C(72°F) was like hell frozen over. No one in Hi no Kuni liked cooler temperatures.

It had been during lunch at school. Yuuki wasn't a popular kid. She was poor and an orphan and a girl, which made her a prime target for bullies. Boy bullies. Much older boy bullies to be specific.

Most days it was just words, but the day things changed it had gotten physical for the first time.

The Rich Kid Group of the school that was led by a teen by the name of Komatsuzawa Hanataro - who went by 'Komatsuzawa-sama' and did everything he could to distract people from his 'girly name' - cornered her near the trees outside the school yard. The other teen boys stood in a semi-circle to cage her in, but didn't get involved beyond that. It was how that sort of altercation went. They let their leader be the mouthpiece for them.

Hanataro was a dick. Yuuki had heard a kunoichi call her ninja friend that once when he stole her dango, and it hadn't been in a friendly tone. So she inferred it was an insult and used it accordingly.

The usual taunts about being unwanted and worthless were first. Nothing new or remotely interesting so he just kind of sounded like a tape that was rewound and played every day. Then came the encouragement for her to just drop out of school because she'll never amount to anything. Finally was the suggestion of suicide to get out of everyone's way, which got an eye roll after hearing it so often.

And boys who think they're hot shit, don't like it when you don't take them seriously. They throw tantrums in response. And so Hanataro proved her right by lashing out and grabbing her hair in an unforgiving grip that pulled at her scalp, using his height over her to his advantage.

It wasn't anything special as far as hair went. Solid black and spiky around her head. That was it. She wasn't into long hair personally and kept it ear length at all times. Less time washing it because less product had to be used. And it never knotted so brushing it wasn't necessary. She was lazy and didn't care about how she looked.

The grip tightened, pulling at the roots. "Got something to say, trash?" the punk taunted, lording his height over her like it was something to brag about. Hanataro wasn't a very tall teen which probably made him so self-conscious. His friends were like shields around him everywhere he went 'cause they were all so big.

"Let go, Hana-teme."

He didn't, obviously. And he didn't like her dig at his name either. She could feel some of the pressure on her roots become loose, not because he let go, but because he'd pulled hard enough to pull some of her hair out.

Now Yuuki did not like Hanataro as one might guess. And she didn't appreciate being manhandled either. So when the twerp decided to lay hands on her, she did the first thing that came to mind.

After being in a few friendly tussles at the orphanage, Yuuki knew how to throw a good punch. She had to if she wanted to get out of doing chores for the week.

Channeling that same desperation her, she swung back a fist full of chakra and clocked him in the jaw. Hanataro flew back a few feet and landed on his back where he ceased moving entirely. And his group, the '_ever faithful_' followers of his who would supposedly defend him to the moon and back with their dying breaths, backed up in horror. None of them even bothered to check if he was okay before running off with their tails between their legs.

She wasn't shocked. There was no loyalty in that relationship.

As for Yuuki, she turned and walked off, rubbing at the slight ache that still lingered on her scalp. The dick had successfully ripped some hair out with that little stunt.

When she reached the building, she turned back to see him still lying there, and had a stray thought. Could someone die from being punched? Did she have a murder on her hands when she wasn't even a shinobi or shinobi-in-training?

The thought made her panic slightly as she hadn't been aiming to kill. She just wanted to scare him away to he'd stop touching her. Maybe even stop bothering her altogether. Murder wasn't how she'd planned on it though! She couldn't afford to go to prison! And there was no way she could outrun a squad of Anbu!

The child who lived richly - 'rich' her ass - rushed to class. She'd never been a favorite and she doubted the sensei even knew who she was. Still, it was best to fess up now instead of later. It would show maturity and initiative. It would get her in less trouble than hiding it would.

"Sensei! Komatsuzawa-san is on the ground and isn't moving!"

Every teacher knew who Komatsuzawa was, and upon hearing the most wealthy student's name, stood in a hurry. "What happened?!"

She followed him back toward the playground, explaining along the way, "He was bothering me with his friends and grabbed me. So I punched him when he wouldn't let go and he hasn't gotten up. I don't know where his friends went though. They ran away."

And _that_ was how she ended up in the Hokage's office of all places?

So to make it clear for everyone involved...

Yuuki was an orphan. She had no surname as far as anyone was aware. Though as she hadn't even been to a doctor, so who knew what relation she had. Yuuki had punched out the son of one of the wealthiest couples in the village. Yuuki, with her twig arms, had broken a teen boy's jaw.

As such, both parents wanted to hang her by her toes and choke her out basically. Other less kind words were uttered in her direction but she didn't care enough to remember.

So Yuuki, Rin who was the new Matron of the Orphanage, both of Hanataro's parents, Takahashi-sensei, Hanataro's friends and _their_ parents, and the Hokage were sitting in the man's office. And while it was not a good situation, Yuuki didn't feel guilty in the slightest. Her bully wasn't dead, just hospitalized and that was good enough to appease her worries. The chances of prison time were lowering further and further.

"Now," began the Hokage, "we're all here because of a concerning report of an incident that happened this afternoon. I will have the eye-witness report from everyone who witnessed this event. Hanataro-san's has already been recorded by one of our Anbu. An additional report as made from a Genin who had been passing by and decided to watch the altercation in case help was needed. I will know if you lie to me."

The group of teens fidgeted as each told their version of events. They glossed over the insults used and just said insults were traded back and forth. They neglected to mention the push for suicide. And they all agreed that Yuuki hit Hanataro out of nowhere and with no provocation.

And when the Hokage turned to her, the Komatsuzawa Head blustered, "Surely you don't need this hooligan's word! She's obviously no better than a rabid dog!"

At the old man's glare, he shut up instantly. The Hokage motioned to Yuuki so she could tell her side.

"This was the first time Hanataro-san ever got physical. Usually they all just corner me somewhere, tell me I'm worthless and that I should kill myself, and then leave after a few minutes. After a while it gets boring hearing the same stuff, so I rolled my eyes at him and he grabbed my hair in an attempt to seem threatening. And when he didn't let go after I told him to, I punched him in the face with a fist full of chakra. His buddies scattered like cockroaches and I went to get Takahashi-sensei."

Quick and to the point.

"She's lying!" the parents and group of boys insisted all at once. Takahashi-sensei looked resigned. The Hokage was emotionless as he shuffled the papers on his desk around.

"According to the eye-witness report of Genin Hyuga Hayato, Yuuki-san was told that being an orphan meant she was unwanted by her birth parents and that she was worthless. To quote,_ 'Your real parents didn't want you and since no one's adopted you it means you're worthless. Why don't you just give up and go back to the orphanage? You'll never make it anywhere. In fact, why don't you just give up on life since you're just taking up space someone else needs.'_ Is this or is this not what Hanataro-san said?"

The boys were stiff with fear. The Hyuga were of a well-respected shinobi clan. Wealthier than all of their civilian families combined. They had a better standing in the village too. Having the word of a Hyuga against them was bad for them in every possible way.

"Hyuga-san proceeded to explain that Hanataro-san grabbed a handful of Yuuki-san's hair hard enough to rip it out. This is proven true by the fact that the Iryo-nin in charge of his recuperation found _this_ in his enclosed fist." The Hokage held up a tuft of black hair that had no doubt come from Yuuki's head.

"It was further explained that he taunted her and she told him to let go. When he did not do so, she reared back her right fist that was coated in a thick layer of chakra, and slammed it into the left side of his jaw. He flew back a meter and a half and was unconscious before landing. Hyuga-san saw all of this with his Byakugan from the other side of the building, and it follows Yuuki-san's version of events more than anyone else's. What do you have to say for yourselves, boys?"

Yuuki understood that things were looking bad for the bullies. This would be the moment they finally got their asses handed to them!

One of the boys, someone that she never cared to learn the name of as he was just Hanataro's lackey, couldn't stop himself from saying, "But she never fought back any other time we did it so how could we know she could fight?!"

As one, all the parents slapped a hand to their heads. Takahashi-sensei groaned something about 'implicating yourselves' as the Hokage smiled in victory.

"I'll take that as a confession, thank you. I have enough information. Yuuki-san will not face punishment from this. In fact, it seems to me that Hanataro-san should being punished once he's out of the hospital. There isn't much that we can do about standard bullying as words can be traded back and forth without anyone's knowledge, but encouraging suicide is a big concern and laying hands on another makes it even worse. He will not only serve detention for every day of the remaining school year, he will see a psychiatrist to work out his personal issues, and Yuuki-san will be compensated 5,000 Ryo a week from his personal allowance until she reaches adulthood. Hopefully this will teach him a valuable lesson."

Both of Hanataro's parents gaped openly in horror at their son's punishment.

The Hokage turned to the other teens. "You're getting off easy with a year of detention. As Hanataro-san was the mouthpiece and did the most damage, he gets the most punishment. That doesn't mean you'll get off again if you get into more trouble from here no out. Might I suggest counseling for their attitudes as well? Perhaps a good lesson on how having money doesn't make you more important than anyone else?"

The offenders and their parents were escorted from the office by an Anbu in a cat mask, leaving Yuuki and Rin behind. The Hokage shuffled some more papers around.

"Hyuga-san was impressed with your even control of your chakra. As such, you've earned yourself a chance to enter into the Shinobi Academy on scholarship. You'll have to take the entrance exam of course, but there's no doubt you'll make it as your chakra manipulation is ahead of many your age and your school grades show you're in the 99th percentile of your year even if you've been noted to have issues with laziness."

Cool.

"Of course as an orphan you will be provided with the usual stipend of orphans attending the Academy and it will remain as such until you reach Genin status. That is usually at age twelve in peace times, meaning you will reach adulthood in terms of our laws, early on. I did not mention this to your contemporaries so they can sweat a little as additional recompense."

Double cool.

"You can also choose to rent an apartment where the bills will be handled until you reach adulthood, or continue staying at the orphanage until you reach adulthood."

"Apartment!" she decided immediately. Anything was better than the orphanage.

"I had a feeling you would say that," the old man smiled. "Rin-san would still maintain contact in case you require an adult's signature if you need medical treatment, but otherwise you would fall under shinobi watch. I have taken the liberty of having an Academy instructor bring up the current entrance exam. If you'd like to take it now, that is."

Yuuki did. In the meantime, the Hokage and Rin talked in hushed tones while she ran over the exam's requirements.

She never thought she'd get to be a ninja. Who knew messing around with her chakra on her own and then punching a bully was the way to go about getting the chance? There were better options for her as a ninja than there were as a no-name civilian.

* * *

**A/N: The first chapter is done!**

**No, it's not the Rin you're thinking of, people can have the same name in the same village of several thousand people.**

**Komatsuzawa is a name, I did not make that up FYI.**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.**

**1 Ryo** = **10 Yen. 100 Yen** = **$0.91 as of Nov 7th 2019. All below $  
were rounded to the closes 100.**

**5,000 Ryo** = around **$460.  
****25,000 Ryo** = around **$2,285.  
1,235,00 Ryo** = around **$112,980.  
510,000 Ryo **= around **$46,650.**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING.**

**I'm glad y'all seem to like this. :)**

**The AO3 version of this chapter has a pic of what Yuuki looks like.**

* * *

The stipend paid from the orphan's fund was 5,000 Ryo a month for orphans attending the Shinobi Academy. Add that to the 5,000 Ryo she'd be getting a week until graduation from Hantaro's own wallet, and she'd have 25,000 Ryo to use each month. It was exciting since she;d never held more than 100 Ryo at a single time!

Yuuki was cheap though. Being poor taught you some hard lessons about not being greedy and stretching your money as far as it could go. She didn't own a hairbrush because her fingers were the same length as her hair and could do the job just as well. That meant less money toward unnecessary things, and more that could be put toward more important things.

Such as menstruation. Yuuki was of the unfortunate percentage to already get her first cycle. She hadn't even been eight for two months when it had happened. Rin had to give her a talk that consisted of a lot of left out terms she was apparently '_too young_' to know. So Yuuki went to the school library once during lunch, sneaked into the adult section, and found out the rest herself. It was a lot to process, but she learned by she had to sacrifice basic things like hair ties and brushes so the orphanage could spend it on her stash of personal care products.

There was a discount on hygiene products for those who were shinobi because of their excessive need of such things. It all worked like an income tax basically. Every shinobi was aware of their own business and accepted that bit as a part of it. Each mission's pay was divided up. The village received 50% of the pay naturally. That 50% was then split up between various issues within the village. A whole 10% went toward the production of hygiene products, so every shinobi in the village contributed and as such, received 50% off the original price of every hygiene product they purchased.

Yuuki was not a shinobi yet, so she had to pay full price and the most important thing above all else was anything to help menstruation because it lowered the chances of making a mess. Getting blood out of clothes was such a pain and not something she wanted to waste time on.

So she would have to budget carefully.

Automatically, she set out to saving up. There was no guarantee that her first year as a Genin would bring in decent money since there was no way they'd send newbies to do really dangerous stuff outside the village. And once she was a Genin, she would have to pay for her apartment on her own and the village would no longer handle the rent and utility expenses.

So 25,000 Ryo a month for the next 51 months would equal 1,235,000 Ryo in total.

The best thing to do would be to put away at least 10,000 Ryo each month for a guaranteed 510,000 Ryo saved up upon graduation.

The remaining 15,000 Ryo would be divided up between needs.

**Food:** 5,000 Ryo.

Yuuki loved fruits but hated vegetables. But both were necessary according to her old Health class. Produce was a lot cheaper in the summer and autumn. She knew that because that was when the orphanage tended to have more produce on hand. And wasn't it just her luck that her chores at the orphanage had been to help Ito-obaa-san out in the kitchen. Which meant using the wood-burning stove and preparing and cooking food for everyone.

**Clothes/Household Items:** 5,000 Ryo.

An expense that would hopefully not be a monthly thing. If she planned accordingly, she wouldn't need to shop for clothes often. In fact, she had a great idea of an outfit. In the orphanage she'd only had two shirts and two pairs of shorts. And she had to wash them by hand every week. Multiple copies of the same outfit were acceptable so long as they were clean. Those belonged to the orphanage though and had to be returned for another orphan to use some day once she got her new wardrobe situated.

As for the house itself, she'd need curtains for privacy, bedding, dishes, and cleaning products to keep the place orderly. As it wasn't big inside, the chances of it getting cluttered quickly were extremely high and cleaning so time-consuming that she didn't want to have to do it outside of scheduled cleaning times.

**Entertainment:** 5,000 Ryo.

Most likely books or card games. A jump rope. Practice weapons for ninja classes. Other school supplies would be necessary too.

Any money left over would be kept for emergencies or a random urge to splurge on sweets. Being able to have the chance to splurge on anything would be nice. But then going out and having to walk somewhere to buy stuff would be a lot of work for something spur of the moment. She wasn't that dedicated to food despite it being one of her favorite things.

Yuuki had been given an apartment in a large building with an orange/red roof and a lot of stairs. It had a bedroom where the paint was chipping, a bathroom with water damage on the ceiling, and a kitchen with squeaky floorboards. Basic and yet totally fine for her needs.

Yesterday she didn't have anything to her name but the clothes on her back that weren't even hers for keeps. Having anything, even something small in a rundown building, was nice.

* * *

The biggest piece of clothing that was central to Yuuki's wardrobe, was her sweatshirt.

Shopping had been an experience in and of itself. She'd just wanted to get in and get out as soon as possible. And that was when her eyes landed on the beauty that was her new sweatshirt. No one would blink at someone wearing the same sweatshirt every single day. People did it all the time. A favorite coat was nothing new.

It was an off-white slip-on that was ten sizes too large, but she would continue to grow into it which was totally fine for looking into the future. The neckline was small allowing the fabric to stay in place instead of hanging off the shoulders. The bottom reached her knees and was very wide to allow ease of movement. The sleeves were too long so she had them rolled up several times to reveal her forearms.

Underneath was a bodysuit of skin-tight, mesh armor. Legit it was some type of shinobi metal that was flexible and could withstand decent damage according to the manufacturer. The shop worker hailed it as 'amazing'. The mesh covered from collarbones to wrists and ankles. Underneath were a simple black tank top and short-shorts combo. The sweatshirt had a big pocket in the front that she could store food in on the sly.

For an outfit it was pretty cool. And the growing into it part was the most appealing bit.

If all her planning went well, she'd only have to shop once a month. Less work to do!

The entrance exam had been very easy. The results came back showing she was advanced in Maths, Geography, Reading, and Writing. Science was average at best, but that was because it was boring and sounded painful all the time and who really cared that much to differentiate all the stuff that sounded similar but weren't? On these points alone she tested into the Second Year classes. Class A on her first go even!

Second Year had only begun weapons training this most recent term so she wasn't behind on that bit. And according to the fact that she had already located her chakra and could manipulate it in various ways, she was just a bit ahead of the Second Year curriculum in that aspect of training.

Her physical fitness was good for someone incredibly lazy. She could do the required five laps around the Academy's training ground which meant she was where she was supposed to be for her age group. She could throw a good punch at the very least so she didn't worry about sparring whenever that became a necessity.

Her first day of school was going to be interesting.

* * *

"Hello there. I'm Umino Iruka and I'm going to be your sensei from now on."

The man in question had darker skin than anyone else she'd ever seen, and an easy smile. He looked like the kind of person who cared about his students at least. The scar across the bridge of his nose wrinkled as his face muscles moved. She felt calm next to him.

Iruka motioned to the door with **[2-A]** hanging above it. "You'll be joining this particular class and evening out the number of students to thirty, which is lucky for you. Your exam results were impressive so I have high hopes."

_Uh oh._ She barely withheld a wince. High expectations meant more work.

He lead her into the room and called for the class to be silent. "Everyone, this is your newest classmate. I expect you all to be mature about this and show kindness i know you're all capable of."

Yuuki jerked her head upward in a quick motion as a sort of nod of '_whassup?_' to them all. "Hi. I'm Yuuki." A no-name orphan with no interesting qualities. If he wanted her to make friends, she didn't know how it would happen.

"Can you tell us how you came to join our class?" asked Iruka. "We don't often get transfers from the civilian school, especially in the middle of term. Let alone straight into the A-Class."

She shrugged. "One of the teen bullies decided words weren't enough for once, and got physical, so I got physical in return and laid him out with a single punch. 'Course my fist was covered in chakra and broke his jaw in the process but I don't think it was enough to knock him out. Unless he was just that pathetic."

The whole class was dead quiet, and Iruka's face was a cross between impressed and horrified. "Um… Yuuki-san, we don't allow fighting here."

She beamed innocently at him and fluttered her nonexistent lashes for good measure. "Don't worry sensei, I don't start fights. I finish them before they can even begin."

He didn't look appeased but gestured to an empty seat for her to take anyway.

Yuuki found herself beside a boy with a pineapple for a head. He was barely awake in his seat, slumped over the desk with very poor posture. The boy to his right was chubby and had red swirls on his cheeks. He had a bag of chips open on his lap and was carefully eating one at a time to avoid suspicion. His crunching was almost silent.

The room was pretty big and the windows filtered in enough sun that artificial lighting wasn't necessary. The other students were about as one would expect from shinobi-in-training. Dressed in clothes that wouldn't hinder physical fitness but also made them stand out.

She got a few odd looks but nothing to be concerned about. And she also noticed a familiar face!

A possible name eluded her but the bright blond hair and tanned skin stuck out like a sore thumb as no one else in the village had coloring like that. He'd been a loudmouth, if she recalled correctly. Probably still was he didn't seem like he'd grown out of that habit any time soon.

No one had known where he went, just that he was in the orphanage one day, and the next day, Rin was celebrating him being gone. Some nasty words were said that Yuuki chose to ignore since personal experience proved the opposite of Rin's assertions.

Maths was the first subject of the day. Yuuki had joined on the day of a unit assessment. Iruka had told her that she could wait a few days to study for it, but she decided to give it a go anyway.

She got the highest score.

Yuuki had learned mathematics by using food. It was a great motivation to remember stuff. Made learning more fun. Evenly splitting up portions of rice by going grain by grain was something she'd taken very seriously while cooking for the other orphans. As the assistant cook she was allowed a bit more to make up for the work and she would be damned if she didn't get her work's worth of food in return!

Classes continued on. Lunch was at noon, and an hour before that was Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu practice for their class, outside in the yard.

Iruka coached her through how to hold shuriken and kunai properly without harming herself. Those the Academy provided for training were all made of plastic. Very sharp plastic though. They wouldn't get actual metal until their Fourth Year where they'd be considered trustworthy enough to wield such weapons.

This was all about improving aim first. The plastic even weighed the same as a standard, iron kunai and shuriken would be. The weight was distributed evenly.

Yuuki was good at plain throwing. Her aim was fine. Kunai and shuriken weren't like rocks or balls though. Their weight was placed so specifically that they had to be thrown a certain way in order to land the right way. Shuriken were _not_ like pointy frisbees of death. That was the first lesson she learned.

It should be noted though, that when she threw a kunai like it was a hatchet, she did finally hit the target she'd been set in front of. Of course it was at the bottom red ring, but the kunai had penetrated all the way up to the handle which was pretty good for something made of plastic.

"That is not the proper way to go about it," noted Iruka, "but if there's ever a moment on a mission where it seems like it's necessary, don't hold back."

Cool. "Are hatchets ever used as ninja weapons?" Yuuki asked. "I can throw hatchets pretty good."

"Pretty _well_," corrected the Chunin automatically. "And I've never heard of them being used as such, sorry."

Crap. "What about boomerangs?"

The man looked lost. "I'm trained in the standard shinobi weaponry, Yuuki-san. I'm not the best to come to about specializations. You could visit a shinobi blacksmith and ask them in person if you're curious. I can give you the address to Konoha's best blacksmith shop."

"Cool! Thanks, sensei!"

She returned to throwing the kunai the correct way. And while she didn't hit the target at all, being inches off from it was decent considering she'd just started today.

The other kids in the class varied in their level of skill.

Off the bat, she noticed that the clan kids all had better aim and that was obviously because they had the chance to train at home with their shinobi family members. The civilian students weren't as skilled and for some reason most of the girls weren't trying very hard.

A blonde girl and a girl with pale eyes were the best.

The boys were much more harsh on their targets. She didn't know any names yet, but the one in the long coat had the best aim, allowing to hit dead center while the one with the fan on his back could throw multiple kunai at once and have them all land on his target, even if they weren't perfect hits.

And Loudmouth, the other orphan in the class, was just doing bad overall. He loudly boasted about passing the exercise and becoming Hokage - damn, high aspirations in life for one with absolutely nothing on his side going for him - and no one took him seriously. It was kind of sad actually.

By the end of the first day, she'd accumulated many thoughts and concerns, especially after wandering around and listening in on many conversations from different years and classes at lunch.

She presented her observations to Iruka once everyone was gone for the day and she knew they wouldn't be interrupted.

* * *

"Sensei?"

Iruka looked up, not expecting any students to still be there. But indeed, there stood Yuuki, the newest Academy student. She was dwarfed by her sweatshirt and looked adorable. Her dark eyes stared up at him with intensity and he placed his paperwork down to give her his full attention.

"Yes, Yuuki-san?"

"I don't get the idea of kunoichi classes."

Unexpected. She hadn't even had such a class yet as those were only on Thursdays and Fridays. "Well… they're supposed to teach valuable skills."

She shook her head. "But sensei, kunoichi only make up** ⅕** of Konoha's forces. Only 24% of the entire Second Year are kunoichi-in-training. There aren't enough girls and there surely won't be enough for the missions the handbook state kunoichi lessons would benefit. Learning how to fit into other cultures doesn't need to be segregated by gender. It seems weird that** ⅘** of the shinobi forces are just left to flounder across the Elemental Nations. Being boys doesn't mean they shouldn't learn secrecy and stealth."

He was speechless. Iruka hadn't ever really thought about it like that before. He'd never been in those classes nor did he teach those classes, so he'd never had to think about it or care that much about it in general. But she had a point.

"It just sounds like most of our shinobi are being crippled from the inside and that's concerning," the girl finished, looking up at him imploringly.

"I… will bring this to Hokage-sama's attention. Thank you, Yuuki-san."

Yuuki brightened instantly. "Cool!"

He watched as she ran from the room, and wondered just what life would be like with her in his class.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know!**

**Check out my other fics.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING.**

* * *

On her fourth day of school, Iruka came in with a big announcement that had left the entire class shocked though with some it was for different reasons.

"After due consideration, kunoichi classes have been revised and brought up to date for a better, more inclusive curriculum," the Chunin explained to them. "The name has been changed to Mission Preparation and it is mandatory for all students from this day forth to attend if you wish to be a shinobi."

Yuuki hadn't expected anything to be done quite so quickly. Nor for that much effort to be put into it either. She just thought she'd say something and _maybe_ the classes would become available to everyone.

As expected, some of the boys raised a huge fuss over this big change because of '_girly things_'. Yuuki didn't know how learning to not die was girly but whatever. Who knew they could be so threatened by the idea of taking all their classes with girls?

Iruka would not have any of their shit though. He was rising on her list of Cool People. Though the list was damn near empty, that little fact didn't matter. Iruka was side by side with the Hokage at the moment. Might get higher depending on the future.

"It was brought to the Academy's attention that most of our shinobi these days weren't being as well-prepared for shinobi life as they deserve to be. This is a failing on the administration's part. As such, we shall seek to rectify this error as soon as possible. Konoha thrives on teamwork and if you can't work together and build the necessary skills, you won't come back from your missions. We have the highest survival rate out of the Great Five Nations, and with these new teachings our rates will increase even more."

That was good. Why no one thought of it beforehand was weird though. She couldn't believe that not one person in a few thousand shinobi hadn't realized that before.

"New classwork will include basic cooking lessons, foreign and domestic sign languages, basic medical courses, sewing lessons, origami, ikebana, morse code, yoga, public speaking, debating, botany, tree walking, and water walking."

That was a lot of stuff to pile onto the school's curriculum. And it would take quite some time for everyone to get used to it all too. This was being taken very seriously and it was nice to know that someone had listened to her concerns and gave them proper thought. People in charge taking those not on their level seriously was a big win in her eyes.

"These classes will now be taken three days a week with two school days as an intermission between them. **Example:** You will start these classes this coming Monday after the weekend. Tuesday will be the free day, but Wednesday will be the following class on the schedule. Thursday is the second free day and Friday will be the third day of classes. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are the assigned days for the foreseeable future. You will be notified of any possible changes but this schedule seems to have the best flow for now."

Convoluted explanation but it was doable.

Pineapple, the boy sitting beside her, groaned a little, but didn't move from his clumped over position. He seemed to barely be awake. Other students were more vocal about the change in schedule. Like Puppy and his puppy. Or Pinky. Or Blondie.

Anyway, this made things a lot more interesting at the Academy. Less of a chance at being bored, and a lot of these new classes required sitting down to learn! Less physical work! It was great!

After a few days, she'd finally gotten into the swing of things. She received a history book that she was allowed to borrow until next March. From what she'd observed, there were chapter reviews and then unit assessments, and Iruka stuck very close to them because he liked to be on schedule. On her second day of school, he'd asked for the students to turn in their Ch. 7 review answers, proving that it was a normal occurrence. With that in mind, Yuuki went shopping when she got home and loaded herself up with notebooks, pencils, and binders.

If there was one thing that Yuuki was proficient at, it was the **Lazy Man's Load**.

The **Lazy Man's Load** would best be described as doing more work now to avoid doing work later. Like how some people would carry multiple baskets of laundry stacked on top of each other despite them being too heavy, just so they didn't have to make more than one trip to the laundromat. Or in Yuuki's case, doing all the chapter reviews and unit assessments in the book ahead of time so she didn't have to do them throughout the school year.

She'd start at Ch. 8 and work all the way up to Ch. 50. The papers would then be placed in her History binder, in order of when they would be due. All she'd have to do was date them when Iruka asked for them to be turned in.

In three days she'd already finished up to Ch. 15 and was certain the whole book would be finished by the following week.

Yuuki had applied the same method in the civilian school. Her classmates had thought her crazy but it made perfect sense to _her_. Also, she just hated leaving things to build up. Reports were started the moment they were assigned. She'd perfected doing homework in class without the teachers knowing about it. And her methods proved fruitful when she came down with a terrible cold one week and slept for nearly the entire time. If she hadn't had a book report done already, she would have gotten a 0 when she went back to school and it was due. Most teachers don't do extensions or believe you could be sick enough that you can't move to do your homework.

Therefore, in Yuuki's mind, she was a genius. Get it out of the way now so she could focus on other stuff later. Or sleep. Sleep was good.

* * *

In Taijutsu class, Yuuki was paired up with a girl named Hinata. From her eyes, it was easy to tell that she was a Hyuga. Except she wasn't like any that Yuuki had ever seen before. She was very shy and didn't look like she wanted to be away from the '_filthy orphan_'. Yuuki knew what a lot of the uppity clans thought about the orphanage, she wasn't stupid. And the turning the nose up made it really obvious too.

"Are you okay?" she couldn't help but ask. Yuuki never had friends before, but she'd observed others and their friends for years, and typically a nice thing to do when seeking friendship was to ask how someone was if they seemed a bit off. Of course as Yuuki had also been called a bit off in her life, she wasn't certain she should be the one to judge if others seemed weird.

Hyuga Hinata fit that mental description perfectly though.

The girl gave a stuttered hum and jerk of the head that was probably a nod.

"Are you sure?"

An almost frantic nod this time in response.

"Okay… can you tell me what I'm doing wrong? I don't think brawling is what they're looking for and that's what I'm best at. It's what happened a lot in the orphanage whenever the kids bot bored. We just get into fights for shits and giggles."

And it was as if Hinata transformed into a completely different person then. Her hunched shoulders and twiddling fingers halted and she stood straighter. She proceeded to personally adjust Yuuki's stance so her feet were properly apart and her arms placed evenly so they could move to block an attack while protecting her chest.

"Y-you want to be able to guard y-your chest at any time," the clan girl said. "Th-the Academy's Taijutsu style focuses on defense. If you want a more offensive style, you'll have to search for one. This is just to get you started on the right path."

She was coached through the motions. Hinata didn't hold back but she wasn't mean at least. And she made more sense than that Mizuki guy was apparently supposed to be helping their Taijutsu lessons with whatever knowledge he claimed to have.

"Hey, Hinata," the orphan began slowly as she watched the man in question instruct Loudmouth, "is Mizuki teaching that blond kid right? 'Cause what's he's showing the kid isn't the same as what you're showing me and he lost his matches yesterday really bad."

Hinata turned to look where Yuuki was staring. Her face turned a dusty shade of pink, but her brows did narrow over her eyes, making her look a bit creepy. A few hand seals later and her eyes did that thing all of her clan members could do. Like x-ray vision or something where the veins bulged obscenely and gave them a perpetual '_bitch face_'. "Mizuki-sensei is… _lying_ to Naruto-kun?" She sounded confused over the possibility.

"We should tell Iruka-sensei when we get back to the classroom," suggested Yuuki. "He'll know what to do." He'd done something about the kunoichi classes so he could do something about Loudmouth's problem.

The two girls nodded to each other and continued working through their kata. Though really it was more of Hinata coaching Yuuki through her mistakes. She wondered if the Hyuga liked cookies and if it would be okay to bake her some in return for the help. They'd just been partnered for practice, Hinata didn't have to go the extra mile in helping her out. And she dreamed of this cool cookie she'd never made before but was sure was possible. In the dream she'd called them '_snickerdoodles_' and they'd tasted great in the dream so it shouldn't be hard translating that to real life! Her mind was wack but useful.

It could already be stated that Yuuki did not like Taijutsu all that much. The amount of kata for just the most basic fighting style ever made her dread more difficult forms. And she had been scheduled for a match today too. And it wasn't like she could use chakra punches on eight year olds. A fifteen year old with his head up his ass was another story entirely. He asked for it by bothering her first and then touching her without consent. But kids...?

Mizuki, the weirdo who apparently liked sabotaging some of his students, had set her against someone named Choji. All she had to do was demonstrate that she was capable of fighting as in her case it was an assessment of her skills. And then the school would know what to help her on to get her properly situated.

A whistle blew and the kids were all called over to a big ring on the ground. Iruka and Mizuki stood back as it was circled, and two kids were called to the center for their fight.

Loudmouth - Naruto, as Hinata had called him - versus some kid with a forgettable face and brown hair.

"First out of the ring, loses," said Iruka. "Hajime!"

Without hesitating, Naruto launched himself at his opponent and socked him clean in the jaw with a punch. And while the kid was falling back, he spun on his heel and sent a kick to his chest, knocking him out of the ring entirely. He used absolutely none of the stances of movements Hinata had showed Yuuki. He'd basically pulled a brawler's move which was very familiar and probably something he saw one of the older boys in the orphanage do. Yuuki knew it too though hers wasn't quite so damaging.

Iruka called for a '_seal of reconciliation_' and then chastised Naruto for not using Taijutsu in his fight. The boy scoffed and looked away as if he didn't care. The wobbling of his lower lip proved that to be false however.

"Yuuki-san, Choji-san, come up for your match!"

Oh! So Choji was Chubby's name! That was nice to know.

"Choji-san, this is an assessment of Yuuki-san's skills first and foremost. You will receive a passing mark no matter what happens."

The boy smiled sweetly and gave Yuuki a slight nod that she returned. He seemed like a nice dude after what she'd seen of him in class all week. He liked food more than anything but his best friend and she could understand. Food was great. Rice was the best.

"Hajime!"

Choji rushed her immediately and the first thing that came to mind was to throw him away. But he was bigger than her by a lot, so the only way to do that was to use his own weight against him while hopefully keeping his at a distance in the end.

Stepping to the side, she grabbed one of his arms once he got close enough, and turned her back to his front. As she pulled him forward, over her shoulder, she knelt down to make the path easier to track. Choji landed on his back, still in the ring, and Yuuki distanced herself toward the edge of the circle to await his next move. She wouldn't have been able to pick him up to move him anyway if he was dead weight.

It took several seconds for him to catch his breath, but once again he was on his feet and coming her way. She didn't want to hurt him. He hadn't bullied her or anything, so there was no need to use chakra fists of fury on his face. So what was she supposed to do in this situation?

An idea came to her and she sprinted toward him, shocking him momentarily as she'd done nothing but be defensive so far. Yuuki took that opportunity to slide into a split under his spread legs. When he skidded to a stop, trying to turn around to face her again, she planted a hand on the ground to give herself leverage and swung her legs up, landing a double-footed kick to the middle of his back and sending him toppling out of the ring. She lost her balance somewhat and ended up dropping backwards onto her ass in the process.

Yuuki was declared the winner, which was nice and all, but she was concerned over Chubby's back since her ass hurt from just that little of a fall, so his back had to be even worse. She'd seen a kid in the orphanage shit his pants when he was kicked in the back once. That would be embarrassing.

She rolled to her feet. "You okay?" she asked him, wondering if she'd messed his back up and if she was going to get sued by his clan for money she didn't have, to make up for it. She offered him a hand up and he smiled gratefully as he took it. "Is your back alright?"

"I'm fine," he insisted, a little winded from the match. "Used a bit of chakra to cushion the area once I realized what you were doing. It lightened the impact a lot."

She didn't know that was a thing. Cool. That could be useful for others... ventures.

Pineapple appeared at Choji's side, looking bored but the concern was easy to spot on his features. Choji gave him a smile and Yuuki chose to head back to Iruka to get his opinion on her fighting. She didn't want to intrude on their friend thing they had going on.

"Have you any fighting experience?" the Chunina asked as he made marks on a clipboard.

She shrugged. "Meh. Things at the orphanage are dull and there's nothing to really do, so a good tussle in the yard isn't unheard of. Loser has to do the winner's chores for that week. I've won a few times but that's it really."

"I could see you were familiar with the setup somewhat. We'll have to work on your reaction time and battle mind. Though I do appreciate you holding back on using chakra. You could have probably ended the fight the moment it started but it would have caused unnecessary damage to Choji. Your consideration and forward thinking is commendable and shows a level of maturity most don't have at your age."

Yuuki shrugged, feeling a bit bashful at the praise since she wasn't used to getting any. "I just didn't want to hurt him. He's not a bad person so breaking his face isn't necessary. You know?"

Iruka gave her a smile, and gestured for her to join those whose fights had already finished for the week. Hinata gave her an encouraging smile, fingers back to twiddling again. "You did well," the girl whispered.

"Thanks. I think you'd helped prepare me for it. Even though I used no kata whatsoever, I felt ready and that's what matters."

The girl blushed and looked away. Yuuki liked her. The lack of a stick up her ass was great.

* * *

"Iruka-sensei, we have a problem."

He stared down at the two girls in front of him, wondering if he was going to find Yuuki at his desk every week until graduation.

Hinata's appearance wasn't expected which made him more curious than anything. If she was stepping out of her comfort zone to bring something to his attention, then it had to be important for him to know.

"What can I do for you?"

They shared a look before Yuuki spoke up. "When Hinata-san was helping me with my kata during Taijutsu practice, I noticed something off about…" she looked to Hinata then.

"Naruto-kun," the Hyuga Heiress supplied with a pink face.

"Yeah him! What Mizuki-sensei was teaching him made him do different kata forms compared to what everyone else was doing. And Hinata-san said the Academy only teaches one style so we thought it was weird. Hinata-san used her eyes to read his lips and he was telling the blond kid the wrong info too."

Iruka was completely baffled. He'd known that Naruto was behind in most classes and that his Taijutsu was very poor. Naruto had the power but not the form which worked against him with opponents like Uchiha Sasuke or Aburame Shino. He needed a lot of work and Iruka had assumed he just didn't like listening to authority.

But… if Mizuki had been specifically teaching him incorrect forms… then it would explain the blond being behind so much at least in that class.

Not once did the question of '_why would Mizuki do that?_' cross his mind, because Iruka knew why. Iruka himself had been wary of Naruto when he joined the class. But not enough to sabotage him!

And to think Mizuki was just so full of hatred for what had happened nearly nine years ago that he would do such a thing. That he would go against Hokage-sama's orders even!

Which meant someone had to take a closer look into Mizuki's affairs and ambitions because disobeying their prime directive was a major concern that went far beyond the Academy.

Iruka smiled at the girls awaiting his reply. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll do my best to look into the situation and find a solution."

Both bowed and ran off, leaving him to his thoughts.

How was he going to tell the Hokage about this? The man could be terrifying at a moment's notice and Iruka didn't actually want to be there when the information was dropped. But as it concerned one of his students and colleagues, he had to.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING **and mentions of** SEX TOYS.** You'll see.

I'm writing Ch. 17 right now.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed when Anbu Inu arrived. Kakashi was one of his best shinobi and giving him a mission inside the village had earned the old man a very unimpressed glare that could be felt through his mask. He'd been trying his best to get Kakashi off the excessive missions lately, preferring him to relax more and stop nearly dying all the time. If that meant keeping him in the village then so be it.

His guilt hadn't made him suicidal yet, but **yet** was the operative word. Who knew what Kakashi would get up to if he didn't have something to distract him?

Therefore Hiruzen had called him in for a special, S-Rank mission centered around Konoha. It would probably be the most important mission Kakashi would ever take in Hiruzen's lifetime.

"This isn't your typical mission, I admit it. And I know you'd rather something that seems like it would make better use of your skills, but there are few I would trust with this particular mission because you would not allow bias to interfere with the mission and your tracking skills are quite necessary."

At once, Kakashi stood a lot straighter. Even if his expression was masked by the Inu mask itself, his emotions were easy to read from his body language. That one thing had never changed.

"It has come to my attention that an Academy Instructor by the name of Mizuki, who ranks as Chunin, might be subtly sabotaging Uzumaki Naruto's efforts in the classes where he has direct access to the boy."

Kakashi became deathly still. The mounting rage wafting off of him was almost palpable. Someone might be actively seeking to sabotage his sensei's child. Of course he wouldn't take it very well.

"I need you to tail him for exactly seven days. Find out where he goes, what he does, who he speaks to, and anything that seems important. Even things that seem unimportant. He is most likely deliberately going against my orders and I want to know why before we bring him in and place him in Ibiki's tender care. I want every bit of proof I can get ahead of time."

The Anbu gave a sharp nod, falling into his persona instantly. "Anything else, Hokage-sama?"

"If he becomes an immediate threat to Uzumaki Naruto's continued existence, in any capacity, you have permission to handle him so long as he is alive and sane enough for T&I's workers to get information out of him."

"Hai!"

And then he was gone.

Hiruzen hated traitors. He'd made enough mistakes in his life and he wasn't about to let this go on. He'd already failed Naruto in various ways but wouldn't allow this to be another.

* * *

Mission Prep was something else.

Yuuki took to Konoha Sign Language like a fish to water, sucked at Morse Code, and was so-so at yoga. Signing was just so fluid and pretty that she found herself practicing it randomly during classes. Morse Code sucked because they had to learn how to write it, how to signal it, and how to finger-tap it. The taps all sounded the fucking same and were hard to keep up with!

As for yoga... it required movement and even if she could stretch pretty well, it wasn't fun. It wasn't her idea of a good way to pass time.

But it was so cool learning about new stuff that she really didn't mind it all too much since it was a smaller part of a much bigger class. Others in the class weren't as receptive to the new lessons of course. As to be expected. Some boys thought it was '_too girly_' though how learning to survive in the field was considered girly, she'd never know.

Lunch was, as always, the favorite of all class periods. Because food. _And_ the abundance of it surrounding her person from all sides. Of course her lunch consisted of fruits and rice, but that was fine. Rice was her favorite food in general and watermelon and peaches were like dessert. Yuuki could pack away an entire watermelon as a meal, she didn't mess around. She would accept no criticisms either.

Yuuki sat beneath a tree in the yard, watching all the other students and cataloging the different groups and the purpose they'd assigned themselves in the meantime.

Group 1 were the Groupies. The Fangirls. Every girl in their year except Hinata and Yuuki was in this group. Out of all the classes, A-E, all gathered together. Most didn't have lunches, though from what she'd gleaned, it was a personal choice and not because they were poor. They were '_dieting for Sasuke-kun'_.

Being able to decide when not to eat had to be the height of privilege and Yuuki felt the urge to bang some heads together. She refrained just barely as she didn't want to disappoint Iruka. Having a teacher's trust was a very useful thing and he actually cared for his students.

As for dieting for a boy, who ended up being Broody of all people, it just sounded really stupid. Especially since Broody never paid them any mind to begin with. And where did they get the idea that he **1.)** liked girls, **2.)** preferred thin girls, and **3.)** liked long hair?

Dude never spoke to them so where did the widespread belief come from?

Then there were the Troublemakers. This group consisted of Puppy and his puppy, Loudmouth, Pineapple, and Chubby. Puppy and Loudmouth seemed to often fight over who could be the loudest while Pineapple would lay down and sleep and Chubby would go through like nine bags of chips while he watched the proceedings.

They skipped class as a group twice since Yuuki had started at the Academy, which told her that was a normal thing for them and that they'd probably do it again without remorse.

The other classes of their year had students gathered together to mock wrestle or play Ninja. Save for the Fangirls, Class A did not mix with Classes B through E all that much. She didn't really know why as of yet, but she had some ideas.

Clan kids often ended up in the A-Class and the rest didn't have many, if any. So that meant the others just held civilians, or children of shinobi who came from civilian backgrounds. Clan and civilian children didn't even mix well even on a good day.

Broody was up in a tree that none of the fangirls could climb apparently, eating a tomato straight and ignoring everything. He looked annoyed, but that was normal for him.

Hinata was seated with a boy that Yuuki had yet to find a nickname for as she'd never heard him speak and never saw his face behind his big coat and its high collar and his dark sunglasses. As for Hinata, secretly she referred to her as Stutters now and then, but would never say it aloud for fear of ruining her already low confidence. She _liked_ Hinata.

The two sat at a table of their own and their mouths didn't move to make conversation. They merely ate in silence and watched everyone else.

Curious, Yuuki decided to go over and strike up a conversation herself. She had questions and the best way to get answers was to ask them.

"Hey," she said upon getting close enough. "Is there a reason you two aren't a part of any of the groups that have formed?" she asked, sitting beside Hinata who choked a bit on her rice at Yuuki's sudden appearance in her peripheral.

The orphan patted the girl's back until she stopped hacking up a lung.

Hinata and coat boy regarded her intensely.

Coat boy decided to answer for them both, his sunglasses shining in an eerie way. "We don't fit in very well with them. Why? Because we are neither slackers nor obsessed with Uchiha Sasuke."

While Hinata didn't nod along with him, it was easy to see that she agreed to an extent. She was probably just too nice to say anything that could be considered mean. A Hyuga who wasn't a jerk was proving her good character every day.

Yuuki turned to coat boy and asked, "Why do the students especially avoid _you_? I noticed they go to ridiculous lengths just to not touch you and since you don't _seem_ like a bad person it's a bit weird." Let it never be said that she minced words. Getting to the point was just better than wasting time being cryptic. Time could be used for more important things. Like food. Or sleep.

He didn't answer her verbally. Instead, he held up a hand and Yuuki got to watch as the skin on the back of his hand parted into several small holes. And out of those holes crawled several bugs that looked like a cross between ants and beetles.

Many thoughts passed through her mind at once and she tried to put them in order quickly.

Where had they been? How long had they been there? How were they getting oxygen to continue living? How did that even work to begin with? Did his skin hurt when it parted like that? Was it uncomfortable to have them crawling all over his body? She now had even more questions than before!

And she also found his nickname! Buggy!

"The Aburame Clan form symbiotic relationships with certain species of chakra beetles from a young age and in return for their service they use our bodies like living hives and share our chakra," coat boy explained in deep monotone that was unusual for an eight year old.

"... I'm not gettin' it."

Both Hinata and Buggy were silent, but their confusion was obvious.

Yuuki shifted to get more comfortable and said, "We're not hollow despite what many think. Even excluding our organs we still have muscles, tendons, fat, and bones inside of us. So where are they living exactly? And I doubt they get a regular supply of oxygen so how do they even survive inside you? 'Cause if they're getting oxygen from your blood, you would need to have a third lung at _least_ in order for your brain's continued health to not be hindered by their presence. Furthermore, is it loud in there? Like do they make a lot of noise you can't cancel out? And do they molt inside of you, leaving their old bits behind? Do they mate inside of you too?"

Buggy had opened up a whole new can of worms with this. Her curiosity could not be tamed.

* * *

"Shino, your comrades are restless, what is wrong?"

Aburame Shibi shared a look with his wife Kanna. They'd never seen their son so scatterbrained. Sitting stoically wasn't a new pastime, but being incapable of responding when spoken to was something they'd never dealt with from him before.

His Kikaichu chattered not in agitation but in excitement.

"I met a strange girl today," the boy confessed.

"Care to elaborate?" asked Kanna, her curiosity a lot more noticeable than usual.

"A girl transferred into our class from the civilian school last week. Today she asked me to my face why the other students avoided me when I'm not a bad person. So I showed her… and she said our relationships with our comrades didn't make sense and began asking where exactly they lived, how they got oxygen, if they molted and mated inside our bodies, and more questions that became very invasive very quickly."

It was the most Shino had ever said in a single sitting. They weren't a particularly loquacious clan so such long bouts of speaking were unusual for them. Besides, they could communicate in many ways without opening their mouths.

As for the source of his scattered thoughts, that was an unexpected bit as well.

Shinobi from shinobi clans barely tolerated the Aburame, let alone the shinobi from civilian families. The way they chose to live unnerved everyone, even the most desensitized of individuals.

To hear that such a person hadn't immediately dubbed their son a freak or tried to bully him was astounding.

"And how do you feel after this?" Shibi asked, curious to know what would come of this new interaction.

Their son continued to stare at his plate, a single hand raising to pat his chest. "My heart is beating 1.5 times faster than usual."

A first crush. It was that time then.

How adorable.

* * *

"Learning resuscitation techniques is really weird," Yuuki told Hinata. "This kind is like making out with a dummy. While I don't wanna put my mouth on a real person if I don't have to, how is anyone going to tell if our '_technique_' is good?"

The other girl flushed a bright pink. "Um... I think they look at mouth and hand placement. The dolls are inflatable so the air pressure you provide can be seen and graded on."

For a split second, the words, '_blow up doll_' came to mind along with a quick vision of just what that was, and Yuuki took a giant step away from her dummy in disgust. The mouth was normal-sized but who knew what freaky stuff people got up to on the sly. And with proof that at least one Academy instructor wasn't an upstanding guy, what else was she supposed to think?

"Are you okay?" asked Hinata in worry, looking between the dummy and the orphan in concern. Yuuki was touched.

"Eh... not sure."

"Is there a problem?"

Both girls turned to the sensei in charge of this particular lesson. She was tall, blonde, and looked like she needed to sleep for the rest of known time. She was also not one with a long fuse and would probably explode if anyone else messed up in class that day.

"No, Watanabe-sensei," they replied innocently. Of course it kind of failed on Yuuki's end since she had a perpetual cross of Resting Disinterested-Bitch Face. Hinata was cute enough for the both of them though.

Watanabe-sensei didn't look like she believed them, but she didn't further that line of questioning. Probably too frustrated with everyone to get involved in something that annoyed her so much. "Return to your assignment then."

Yuuki chose to keep her thoughts to herself, not wanting to freak Hinata out. That didn't mean she was any more comfortable with the dummy than she was before.

* * *

"Inu, report."

Hatake Kakashi, in his full Anbu gear, bowed to the Hokage and began recounting his findings over the last week of reconnaissance.

"Chunin Mizuki spent the first day among his colleagues in the Academy. They went out for drinks in the evening and talked about the students in their classes. Nothing out of the ordinary happened until that evening after he'd gone to bed. Or rather, made a big spectacle of going to bed and then sneaked out his window at two in the morning. I tailed him to a Training Ground on the outskirts of the village, #71, and found him handing off a scroll to a small, albino snake. I quickly made a Kage Bunshin that ran to intercept the snake once it was out of his line of sight. Mizuki then returned to his home."

The scroll in question was quickly handed over alongside another. "The first is what he was handing off, the second holds the body of the snake for additional study."

"Well done." The Hokage took both with a firm nod and motioned for him to continue.

Clearing his throat, he continued. "Nothing of great import happened on the second day save for him teaching Uzumaki Naruto more incorrect kata in Taijutsu class. The boy is unaware that he's being duped. On the third day he was unusually agitated and snapped at anyone who so much as looked at him wrong. This resulted in him muttering to himself while at home, about '_damn demons_' and '_think of the end results, they'll be glorious_'."

Everyone knew the moment the Hokage brought out his pipe, things had gotten serious. He was mildly concerned, but was grateful that this attitude wasn't aimed his way because he'd done nothing remotely treasonous in years.

"Day four was a free day for him. He didn't even grade any homework. He spent his entire day in the company of a geisha from the okiya in the Hana District. Dai-Ichi is its name. While thoroughly enjoying each other's company, they exchanged information about the current Academy class of Clan Heirs and the infrastructure of a village supposedly called Otogakure, though no such village has ever existed as far as I am aware.

"Two names were mentioned in such ways that made them sound far more important than the rest. Mizuki spoke of Uchiha Sasuke almost reverently and the subject of his possible Sharingan came up. The two became much more quiet and the geisha, named Mai, said '_it isn't time yet, but a living Kaguya has been found and if all goes well, he'll be the next, then the Uchiha after he's been tested_'. She called the Kaguya, Kimimaro, and said he was a prodigy in his clan's specific Kekkei Genkai and that '_**he** would make use of such an ability when the time comes_'. This wasn't the first time they talked around the name of an individual both consider to be more important than them."

It was easy to see the cogs turning in the old Kage's head.

"On day five he returned to the Academy where nothing remotely interesting happened. Day six saw him receiving a nighttime visit from a masked individual dressed like a member of Anbu, but the mask was blank and no such member exists in Anbu as no registered Anbu member at present is shorter than 173 cm."

Instantly the pipe in the Hokage's hand snapped in half. No KI had filled the room as of yet but they both knew what this meant and it wasn't good in the least. It went beyond Uzumaki Naruto basically.

"Continue." He was deathly calm.

"The masked shinobi said Mizuki's update was late. He then rushed around for several moments before handing over a piece of paper. I left a Kage Bunshin to watch Mizuki and pursued the figure a fair distance before putting them in a subtle Genjutsu that allowed me to get close enough to copy the contents of the page with my Sharingan. I've recreated what I saw, on this piece of paper."

He then handed over the recreation. Kakahsi didn't understand half of what was on it, but maybe that was a good thing as the Hokage's reaction upon seeing it made him want to be anywhere else but where he was standing presently.

"The last day was boring and nothing happened beyond another time set aside to sabotage Uzumaki Naruto's test papers."

"Well done," the old man said, eyes flickering over the obviously coded page. "I'm relieved to have your loyalty, Inu."

Kakashi bowed low in respect and awaited further instructions.

"I should like to have Shikaku, Inoichi and Ibiki in here as soon as possible if you don't mind. I'm going to be here for a while."

"Hai!"

He could only wonder what Danzo was getting up to and what the Sandaime was planning to so about him.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING**.

I'm writing Ch. 19 right now.

I'm glad y'all are liking this. :)

* * *

All Iruka knew that morning was that Mizuki would not be turning up to work like usual and that an Anbu member that was pretty sure was Hatake Kakashi judging by his silver hair that defied gravity, appeared at his door to inform him that Mizuki had been taken into custody and that Iruka would need to think of something for his class to do that would take enough time for them to find a good replacement.

He was given a sixty hour window of time. Something that that wouldn't have his students asking about Mizuki until a judgment had been passed.

What could he do without alerting anyone to the fact that something was going on? Iruka wasn't even a senior leader in the administration! But his class was an important one with all of the clan heirs.

What to do? What could he do? Few lessons required that much time to be seen to.

And how was he going to survive being the only person teaching the class for two and a half days?!

His head snapped around in realization! Survival! A survival test would be a good way to begin preparing the students for missions! He could make it a competition of a sort with a good lesson thrown in for good measure.

He would tell them this morning when classes began, they'd come in the next morning properly prepared and spend a day in the forest expected to survive until personally picked up by him. And then they'd have a day of rest in between the test and the results! He was a genius!

The Hokage would surely find this type of training useful. Since they;d begun fixing the Academy, things had gotten more difficult and the expectations of their shinobi had raised. Their current forces were seeing a re-work as well. The amount of Chunin lacking in some basic skills put them all under watch and Iruka had already been tested to see if he should remain a Chunin. Some people had already been demoted until they fixed their mistakes.

Things were changing slowly but surely and it was for the better. He just hoped that whatever Mizuki had been caught doing was the extent of the situation and it didn't get any worse. Thinking of there being some kind of corruption of power in their village made him uneasy.

However... perhaps exposing such things was truly the best option in the end.

* * *

Yuuki thought of the team she'd been given for this 'Survival Exercise'. It was her, Pineapple, a girl named Ami that Yuuki preferred to call Fangirl #4, and Hinata. They'd been prepared ahead of time with the information that this would take an entire twenty-four hours and that they'd be left in a specific training ground to fend for themselves the entire time.

Now going twenty-four hours without food or water wasn't honestly the most terrible thing. As an orphan, sometimes the orphanage ran low on certain things and as such, some kids went without in turns to make it fair on everyone. Also one full day wasn't detrimental to physical health. So even if they didn't get any food at all, they'd wouldn't die from it. Just be a little tired and hungry the next morning.

They could have just stayed in place the entire time and not really suffered for it. Still, this was supposed to test them. Iruka-sensei would be by to retrieve them at exactly nine the following morning and he would be overlooking their process and the work they'd put in.

So they had to prove themselves. Which meant work. Not exactly Yuuki's favorite thing but as it was familiar work and not something she'd never done before, she felt calm and ready.

Two civilians and two clan kids lumped together. An interesting mix for a team but probably for the better. If he'd put all clan kids on a team he'd be accused of favoritism because of course they would have a higher chance of survival with lessons from their families on their sides.

"Okay, let's get this drag of an exercise over with," Pineapple began in a bored tone, looking tired already. "What are your individual skills? It's best we know so we can determine who contributes what to the team. I'm a tactician first and foremost. My aim with kunai is relatively decent."

Hinata stuttered out, "My Byakugan allows me t-to see nearly three hundred and sixty degrees for up to one hundred me-meters. I have perfect precision in shurikenjutsu."

Fangirl #4 sighed dramatically and then grumbled. "I don't know. I'm like, good at getting info from people. Gossip is my thing."

Yuuki shrugged. "I can build a natural fire. I can swim and hold my breath for over a minute and a half. And I know which plants shouldn't be eaten. That's something I learned really early on." Being poor meant being somewhat desperate. Eating something you think is one thing but it ends up being toxic as hell wasn't a fun situation to be in. Satomi never did come back from the hospital after mistaking yew for rosemary.

Pineapple nodded. "Hinata will be our lookout at thirty-minute intervals up until bedtime. Yuuki will build us a fire to use and will maintain it while we're here. Ami, you and I are going to get into the river and heard the fish toward Hinata who will then use her shuriken to kill them for dinner. If it's possible, Yuuki will search for any plants we can consume with the meal. At night, we will each take a two hour watch and swap out with the next person. Yuuki will go first, then me, then Ami, and then Hinata. Yuuki first because of the famed chakra punches possibly coming in handy and Hinata last because the Byakugan uses up chakra and can be tiresome for children to use too much." He was a very informal kind of guy apparently. Or maybe he just didn't care for formalities.

Fangirl #4 looked unhappy with the set up but didn't say anything. Maybe she realized she was out of her depth? Either way, they each set about their own tasks. At least Yuuki's was easy.

First was to dig a good hole in the ground, in which a kunai became very useful. The dirt was pushed off to the side for later. Then came the stone pit. Basically, to lower the chance of causing a forest fire but also preventing any wind from putting the fire out before it got going, first she needed something to contain the flames. She liked to think of it as a little stone fence around a bowl.

The next step was to break off several branches from the surrounding trees and build a steady lean-to in the center of the bowl. Then she had to gather a decent amount of kindling which included dried grass, twigs, and leaves and scatter it all among the collected branches. Her tinder ended up being a roll of dried leaves that she bound with a spare hair tie from Fangirl #4 who was assured that the tie would not make it back into her possession.

Next was the actual flame. They hadn't been allowed to bring anything themselves on this mission, but had been equipped with a standard kunai and shuriken pack before being dumped in the forest. This meant they had no matches or lighters or fluids used to light fires, but thankfully that wasn't how she'd learned to start a fire anyway since those were expensive and good old-fashioned methods were fine.

Knives and sparks basically. And kunai were just fancy ninja knives and they definitely sparked when making harsh contact.

Taking out two kunai, she proceeded to strike them against one another in the direction of the tinder while blowing short but quick breaths on the bundle. The sound was jarring and a bit annoying, and the sparks flew very quickly, landing everywhere in the bowl.

Finally, bits of smoke trailed upward and with the addition of air pressure, a low flame began to spread along the leaves. With haste the bundle was placed in the center of the lean-to of branches with more quick blowing to inspire the fire to grow higher.

By the time the others returned from fishing with Pineapple's hands filled with tons of dead common trout, Yuuki had managed to get a decent fire going that she had enough materials to keep going for several hours.

"Nice job," said their unofficial team leader complimented.

She gave a thumbs up and pointed to a massive stack of leaves off to the side. "So while I waited for you, I collected those. They're bigger than my hand which makes them perfect as replacement toilet paper."

Fangirl #4 blanched at the suggestion and merely got a shrug in return. "What you'll do is you'll rinse those leaves off just to be safe, and when you feel nature's call, you'll pick a spot a good distance downwind from camp, dig a hole big enough to squat over, and do your business. Then cover the evidence up with the dirt you dug up. I would recommend holding it until after dinner, if you can. And make it a big dinner so skipping breakfast won't bother you all that much. Unless you don't mind unclean hands touching food and spreading germs, then do can do what you want."

Yuuki then set to descaling the fish on the ground. As they'd all have to be rinsed off in the river anyway, a little dirt didn't matter. She cut the scales off with practiced precision that left her teammates quiet in awe. She motioned for them to come closer. "Pay attention to he descaling and filleting. This will be useful for you later on. always go against the scales, keep your thumb placement in mind at all times so you don't but yourself, and learn the anatomy of the fish ahead of time so you know where to cut."

The night continued on in the same vein basically. It was an interesting exercise to say the least. And in the morning she tossed the contents of the fire into the river, including the stones, pushed the dirt back into place and patted it all down to mask the fact that there had been a pit at all. Fallen leaves were then carefully distributed over the area to make everything look more natural and the wind certainly helped the image in the end by blowing things everywhere.

When Iruka picked them up, he ended up giving them a high score.

* * *

"A secret village built beneath a vast nation of rice fields? Even more hidden than any of the other Hidden Villages to the point that no one knows about it?" asked Nara Shikaku.

Yamanaka Inoichi nodded in confirmation. "Mizuki had much information on his own. The geisha we brought in is very well-informed as well. She talked the moment she realized where she was and what was about to happen. It coincided with Mizuki's information and then some."

The Hokage sighed. "And the information Kakashi retrieved?"

"Confirmed her claims as well. They've been feeding Orochimaru information on the village for years. The geisha, named Aiko, has gotten many of our shinobi talking and I think we should have an evaluation regarding loyalty and confidential information in missions," suggested Morino Ibiki with a demented grin on his face. His work in T&I was practically his life and he took a little too much pleasure in breaking people.

"We'll _have_ to," said the old Kage. "So many shinobi falling for the most basic seduction technique concerns me. Is this a result of not teaching the young boys of the Academy about these things for so long?"

None of them answered, but it wasn't difficult to see.

At least they were fixing the problem now.

To think they still had the issue of Danzo to look into as well. He wasn't ready for that type of headache and wondered if sake on the job would be considered inappropriate for this situation.

* * *

Two days later, after a day of rest between them, Iruka decided to bring up the survival exercise in class discussion. To go over the choices each group made and help them understand what they did right and what they did wrong.

"I will begin with what you did right, and then follow it with what you did wrong," the Chunin warned. In his hands was a massive packet of information. He'd taken it very seriously.

"Team #1 - Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Akimichi Choji, and Uotani Hikaru. You started and maintained the fire with ease. This is thanks to Sasuke-san already knowing Katon jutsu and being able to light the tinder through chakra alone. Choji-san collected a veritable amount of edible foods for the team to share. Naruto-san caught and skinned two rabbits for dinner. Hikaru-san followed instructions very well.

"On the flipside, you didn't prepare the campfire correctly so it required constant handling. Soft wood burns fast, meaning it burns out fast as well. Learning the flora of your surrounding area is imperative. Also, when putting the fire out, you just dumped a lot of water into it, which caused the still hot kindling to smoke and it left behind a visible trail that took time to dissipate. If you were being pursued by an enemy the smoke would have caught their attention and the scent which lingered on all four of you would make you easy to track even for a non-tracker."

Damn, he took the exercise _very_ seriously if he was going into such detail over it. Yuuki cut a look over to Broody, the boy every girl seemed infatuated with. He did not look happy. Not that he ever did, but while he usually looked bored, now he looked pissed. Probably didn't like his faults being exposed. No one did really. Perfection was something society sold at a high and unattainable price and when people failed to live up to those expectations it was embarrassing.

"The rabbits weren't disposed of properly and would have lead an enemy to you easily. Finally, you neglected to remove evidence of the fire or where you bedded down."

Iruka did this for each team, listing out their entire process even though she was certain he didn't ask anyone anything about what they did, until he reached the last.

"Team #7 - Nara Shikamaru, Yuuki, Hyuga Hinata, and Takeru Ami. Your fire was prepared expertly, handled expertly, and then hidden expertly. The remnants were dumped into the nearby river, which took them downstream over a mile away. Yuuki-san, where did you learn to start a fire without matches?"

She shrugged. "In the orphanage we would have chores and mine were in the kitchen. They have a very old, cast iron wood-burning cooking stove and I was taught how to use it in case the cook couldn't work for whatever reason. Usually 'cause of joint pain or illness. I'm used to starting fires."

The Chunin nodded, looking pleased. "The entire process was impressive. It took several sweeps of the site for me to determine just where you built your fire. Furthermore, the team ate fish for dinner, and disposed of the innards and remains properly in the river which carried it all away. How you handled your waste as well was smart and not something the others thought of.

"The only negative I can possibly think of was that none of you drank any water which left you all dehydrated. Of course that could be explained away as having no way of knowing if it was safe to consume in mass quantities and not having a pot to boil it with. Overall, your team received the highest score in the exercise. Well done. You'll each receive a coupon for a free bowl of ramen at Ichiraku and a good mark."

Instantly, Loudmouth began to whine, screaming about how he loved ramen more than anything in life and how could Iruka do this to him. And he really looked downtrodden over it too. Perhaps he too was a lover of food.

During lunch, Yuuki trudged on up to Loudmouth while he was lounging with his group of slackers, and held her coupon under his nose.

The boy stared up at her from his sprawled out place on the ground, looking confused.

"I don't eat ramen," she said simply, leaving the coupon on his chest and walking away.

It didn't pass her notice that his friends watched her go silently but intensely.

He was an orphan too. As he wasn't in the orphanage any longer, he probably lived on his own as well. And with his personality, she doubted he was the kind of person to care about maintaining a balanced lifestyle when it came to food. And he probably didn't get an additional 20,000 Ryo a month because someone bullied him for a year.

So in the end, this was the best option. Also, there was no way she was going to be hunting down a restaurant she didn't know. That would take forever and she'd just rather sleep in and get food at home.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was an orphan. Had been one his entire life. Had already been through the whole song and dance about wanting parents and wanting to be adopted. And it wasn't that he'd gotten over that, he'd just stopped whining about it because no one was listening. And realizing no one was listening had hurt more than anything else.

He did not remember Yuuki from the orphanage. Of course he'd left when he was four to have his own apartment and he hadn't interacted with every kid there, but if they were around the same age then surely he'd remember the other boy.

The news of another orphan joining their class hadn't seemed important. However, transferring directly from spending a year in the civilian school was a big deal. How the shinobi that visited the orphanage looking for recruits hadn't noticed him was weird. Orphans were scouted all the time. Being able to use chakra already, especially in a fight, isn't something people looking to recruit would overlook. That wasn't normal behavior.

And he had fit right into the class even though he didn't have any friends. He just came, took what Iruka-sensei threw his way, and did his own thing.

To top it all off, he then gave Naruto his free ramen coupon. And he didn't ask for anything in return. Naruto wasn't used to people just being nice without expecting things of him. He didn't know what to do about it.

A knock on his door captured his attention and when he went to check, he found Jiji!

"Good afternoon, Naruto-kun. I'm afraid we need to have a talk."

With how serious the old man was being, Naruto found himself a little scared. "What's wrong?"

He was lead into the kitchen and told to sit at the table. The old man took the seat across from him and folded his hands. "It involves your schoolwork."

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING **and **QUESTIONABLE**** PRACTICES.**

I'm writing Ch. 20 right now.

5 Ryo = about $0.50.

-This was posted late because I didn't have time earlier to edit the draft.  
My sister had an assignment due in 10 days, assigned only on 11/15. It  
was on the phases of mitosis and labeling them creatively. She had until  
11/28.

We had planned a really fancy set up for when mom got paid, but then  
teacher just up and moves the due date to 11/19 at 11:59 PM. It was 2  
PM on 11/18 when we got the news. We had to nix the original plan and  
go for the cheapest method which still took a lot of work. We started on  
the project, relieved that she'd have until 11:59 PM the next day to get  
it done and there would be time still.

It was 12 AM 11/19. I and my sister were already in bed when my mom  
got an email from the teacher. He moved the due date up again to 2:59  
AM 11/19. So she had to wake up my sister who woke me up asking for  
help. We eventually got it in on time with 10 Minutes to spare. If online  
schooling is always like this I can see why people avoid it so much.

* * *

"Iruka-sensei, where's Mizuki-sensei?"

The question made the entire class go quiet out of curiosity. Yuuki had no idea who asked it either, but she was equally interested when Iruka's face became closed off from all emotions. The dead serious air that filled the room was concerning as usually it was such an open and bright place.

After a few moments of silence, Iruka leaned against the edge of his desk and said, "Mizuki has been arraigned on charges of treason and child endangerment, among other existing convictions and possibly future convictions as well."

And just like that, the temperature in the room dropped considerably as everyone processed his words. An innocent inquiry had lead them all into a discussion on treason.

"We had wanted to break this to you much more easily when the investigation came to a close, but it's been revealed that Mizuki had joined the Academy staff with the sole purpose of sabotaging certain students." Iruka sighed and shifted so he could cross his arms. "It has also been revealed that four students he worked closely with in the past year, dropped out of the Academy and within a month, went missing and haven't been found yet. Another who dropped out as well, turned up dead a month later, missing her organs."

Well that was dark! Yuuki had just thought he was being an ass to an orphan but the guy was literally kidnapping and killing kids and taking their fucking organs?

That was messed up!

Pineapple, who would usually be conked out or barely present, was sitting up straight. Though considering the situation, she wasn't shocked. A traitor had been working undercover in the Academy, influencing students for however long he'd been working there. And five civilians - as they couldn't be anything but civilians because the disappearance of clan kids wouldn't have been ignored by anyone with that much money and influence on their hands - were gone because of him.

There was a calculating gleam in the boy's normally tired eyes. Choji's hands were shaking around his fourth bag of BBQ chips. A look across the room showed Hinata curling in on herself in fear.

"We have been going through the list of students he taught personally and assessing their skill sets. They've all confessed to being taught the same lies and misdirection. One from each class in First and Second Year. The motive is yet unclear as the children in question all showed promise even if they were the worst in their classes," Iruka explained. "And they were _only_ the worst because of Mizuki's interference."

Almost as one, everybody turned to look at Loudmouth, who had been uncharacteristically silent that day. The blond was staring down at his desk, face set in a grim frown. It wasn't hard to see that he was the one being sabotaged as he was declared the '_dobe_' and considered to be the worst at everything. Most people didn't believe he'd ever actually become a shinobi. It was sad.

"Extra time will have to be spent on the remaining children Mizuki had contact with, to bring them up to their class' level. I ask that you be patient with Naruto-san. He was being sabotaged but still managed to keep up his grades enough to stay in this particular class and not be relegated to a lower one nor did he drop out."

And that was that because not enough information was known yet and they as students didn't need to know more about Mizuki's situation unless it pertained to them specifically.

Yuuki never knew shinobi school could be this dramatic! Though objectively of course there would be traitors or people with treasonous thoughts among the populace. It was just human nature. She just hadn't thought it would be so easy for such people to infiltrate the base of learning for Konoha's shinobi. Very easy mistakes with long-lasting, disastrous consequences.

* * *

"You live _here_?!"

The sound of Loudmoth's voice made Yuuki look around in confusion. She found the blond standing on the railing outside her door while she was trying to get inside without dropping anything her arms were barely holding up.

It was shopping day. That meant like ten bags of stuff that all weighed way too much, and her taking the lazy route by carrying all of them at once. She seriously needed to buy a personal cart but every time she went by the shop that sold them, they were sold out. She'd be damned if she ever made more than one trip though! Yuuki didn't have the patience for that back and forth shit. She didn't like food _that_ much.

"Uh… yeah. I was moved here- 'cause there's no way I'm staying in the orphanage... if I don't have to," she told the boy, shifting two bags to the other arm to get a more firm grip on her house key.

"I live at the very top apartment with the balcony."

It was a wonder she hadn't heard his loud voice through the walls or anything. The damn things were so thin that she could hear the breathing of her neighbors, and _other_ activities they decided to get up to in their free time. If she hadn't known about sex already, that would have been her first exposure to the whole process of sexual anything.

Finally, after much fiddling with the keys because the key refused to get in the lock, the door opened.

"Do you- well… wanna go train?" Loudmouth asked, staying out by the railing even though she'd left the door wide open instead of kicking it shut to cut him off.

She turned back and said, "Are you going to stand out there the whole time and just let the flies into my home, or are you comin' in?" before hobbling further into the kitchen.

Loudmouth blinked twice, before cautiously stepping inside and shutting the door. He looked out of place in the pristine environment as his face and clothes were all dirty and her apartment was all clean. Mess was gross and as her kitchen also doubled as her lounge, she refused to have it looking gross at any time if she could help it.

The bag were set down and her biceps burned in relief. She couldn't feel her fingers though and shook them out to try and regain full mobility.

"You need to bathe," she told him as she began putting the produce in the fridge. "You got all that crap on you and it's going to cake on in layers if you don't get it off soon. It'll then take multiple washes which is a waste of money for various reasons."

"Eh…" he shrugged. "Water's always cold."

"Boil some." It wasn't difficult even if it took some time. "And be grateful you have water pressure at all. You recall the orphanage having shit like every day or none at all. When you're poor, you take what you can get. Even if what you can get is very low and slow, it's better than nothing."

The boy groaned.

"Or learn Fuinjutsu," she suggested. "Maybe there's a seal you can put on your shower-head to make the water that comes out hot." She doubted the lady in charge of the complex would do anything about their woes. Especially since they were kids and adults rarely took their concerns seriously. It was why she liked Iruka so much. He listened.

"I don't get it," the boy confessed, a derpy look on his face that make him kind of look foxy. And she just truly noticed the weird birthmarks on his cheeks that looked like whiskers. Where the hell did those come from?

The fridge was closed and she moved on to the cupboards. "Down the hall is my room. There is a stack of books on my desk. Grab the bright yellow one. It's about Fuinjutsu. And then come back here and sit at the table and begin reading it."

**Entry Level Fuinjutsu** was the title of the book. She'd gotten it at the library. As she was not a Genin yet, she was only allowed to take three books at a time, and couldn't take any books from the shinobi sections. That didn't mean she couldn't go in the Genin section, there was no rule against that. She could also take notes of things she found interesting. The book she had was from the Civilian section though since not everyone who used low-level Fuin was a shinobi. Some were blacksmiths for example and would need to know Fuin to make hauling loads much easier.

"Where is this from?" he asked we he got back.

"The library." She certainly wasn't going to be wasting money on books she could borrow for free. It was cheaper to take notes than to purchase the book itself since it was several thousand Ryo.

"I can't go in there. They won't let me."

Weird how Loudmouth was being sabotaged from multiple sides. Kind of suspicious to be honest. It was a right to all citizens to make use of the library. "So they're denying you your basic rights according to Konoha's Charter?"

"Huh?"

She sent him an unimpressed look. "By law you have a right to enter the library. As you go up in rank, the knowledge you're allowed access to will grow with you. Unless there is a sworn statement dated and signed off by the Hokage himself, no one can forbid you entry during opening hours."

The bottom lip began to quiver and she wondered if he was gonna cry. She wasn't the most maternal person. Never mind being on the cusp of nine already. In the orphanage, the girls were encouraged to be empathetic and to take care of the younger kids. Yuuki hadn't ever been capable of handling crying kids without getting annoyed. Also, why were only the girls encouraged to develop empathy? That was some bullshit. In her experience, boys could do with some damn empathy too!

Loudmouth sighed and said, "I'm not surprised. I doubt they'd stop if I told them they were denying me my rights."

"And you don't have a single adult that you can go to? I'm the one who told Iruka-sensei that the kunoichi classes were holding back the shinobi forces, and that class got revamped days later. Then Hinata and I told him about Mizuki teaching you wrong and Mizuki was removed quickly, so maybe he can do something about it if we tell _him_."

The idea had obviously never come to him before, but he looked a bit excited. "You'd come with me?"

"Sure." It would be a bit of extra work, but it'd be worth it in the long run. "Did you eat yet?"

He nodded. "Three instant ramen cups!"

Yuuki waited for him to say more, but he didn't. "That's it? Nothing healthy?" At all? No healthy food at all? Not even a smidgen of something healthy?

"Ramen is healthy!" the boy insisted quite loudly.

"No," she disagreed. "Especially instant ramen as it's friend in lard which is overall bad for you in excess. Fresh ramen is far healthier as it tends to come with meats and veggies and is less fattening."

Loudmouth sagged in his chair. "I can't afford to go to Ichiraku every day though I'd love it. I'm saving that coupon you gave me for a day I don't have any food or money left."

"And… how often does that happen?"

"Usually the last few days of the month."

"How much is your stipend?"

"An even 5,000 Ryo a month."

Affording produce and meat would be difficult on that amount. That was 5K for the whole month and that had to cover food, clothes, school supplies, hygiene products, cleaning products, and enough to save for emergencies. It was doable to an extent but she doubted he knew how to budget. And he'd be fucked come graduation.

"What do you buy?"

"Ramen. Sometimes cereal and milk. It's really expensive though so I just stick to cup ramen."

It wasn't that expensive though. It was 5 Ryo for a single cup of instant ramen. She did the math in her head, thankful that it was one of her best subjects.

"For 510 Ryo you could buy a month's worth of cup ramen if you have only one cup per meal time. That would leave you 4,490 Ryo afterward. Cereal and milk would be upwards of 500 Ryo, which still leaves 3,990 Ryo. Is that really all you're buying because you should have enough left over for other things."

Loudmouth frowned. "It costs 100 Ryo for a cup of ramen."

"No it doesn't!"

"Yeah it does!"

"No, it really doesn't. I was just shopping, I saw the prices. It's not that much."

"Well it is for me when I shop!"

She went deathly still then.

More sabotage? Weird how he gets it from a school teacher, a librarian, and now a shop owner? And she remembered Rin hated him as well so he'd had no love in the orphanage either. What the fuck had happened with this one kid for so many adults to go to such illegal lengths to make his life worse? It didn't make any sense since he didn't seem like a dick. And if it was something his parents did, then that was even more fucked up. She was never one to lay the sins of the father at the feet of the child. Grudges passed on to family members of those who did you wrong made no sense!

"Sudden inflation just doesn't happen and then stop," she told him plainly. "If they're only doing this to only you, then it's calculated and illegal. We should tell Iruka-sensei this too. Someone owes you a lot of money and you need to get it back. Do you keep receipts?"

"I don't get any."

"They legally have to give you a receipt, at least in this village. I don't know about others but here it's a law." Something about lowering chances of plausible deniability and such and stuff and things and such.

Loudmouth became even more quiet and she sighed. How she got involved in this she had no idea, but it had to be handled. It wouldn't be right to just ignore it all. Excess work involved or not.

* * *

Seeing Yuuki in front of his desk at the end of a school day was becoming something of an expectation. It was starting to feel like a habit. Though he was touched that she felt he was capable of handling whatever problems she'd discovered. He hoped it meant that he was being a good teacher.

What he didn't expect was for her to have Uzumaki Naruto with her. The blond looked downtrodden all day and his mood was even worse now than earlier. Yuuki was holding his hand in a tight grip, probably so he couldn't run off.

"Loudmouth has some problems and needs help but we don't know what adult to go to since so many apparently can't treat a kid with basic human decency," the girl told him.

He took a deep breath. What could it be now? He hoped it wasn't extremely terrible but judging by her choice of words, it was bad.

When Naruto didn't speak up, Yuuki took control entirely. "So he's not allowed into the library despite not doing anything wrong. Hokage-sama didn't sign off on such a decision so they legally can't keep him from going, but decided breaking the law over some childish hatred of a single kid was more important.

"He experiences overpricing when he shops with the excuse of '_inflation_'. He's being charged 100 Ryo for a cup of instant ramen when it really costs 5 Ryo in all shops in the village. He only has a 5,000 Ryo stipend each month and goes without food in the last week. They also don't give him his receipts which is against the law. I found out because we apparently live in the same apartment complex."

Of course. Of-fucking-course. Sometimes Iruka just really hated people.

He held out a hand to Naruto. "We need to bring this to Hokage-sama's attention immediately. Thank you for coming forward about this, Yuuki-san."

The girl shrugged. "Seemed the right thing to do really."

"Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing to do," he told her softly.

They'd have to look into the situation and send some shinobi under Henge as Naruto to scout the places in question and record their observations. He hated having to tell the Hokage terrible news! He hated that people just could be decent.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen had never expected this year to be filled with so much activity. Things had been cooling down in the village and it had been looking to be just another year of dull paperwork.

But then corruption, deception, and treason had to all rear their ugly heads at once and he found himself pulled in many directions trying to deal with everything. And Umino Iruka just had to come and dump more on his shoulders because Naruto was facing even more injustice than previously assumed.

When did he become such a poor threat that people in his own village weren't scared of breaking his laws? Had he truly become so soft? Danzo's accusations seemed to bear some sort of merit even if he really hated to admit it.

He'd tried his best to give Naruto a normal childhood, but he couldn't control everyone. While the hidden villages were run on a dictatorship of a sort they still answered to the Daimyo. There were checks and balances put in place to make certain the Kage didn't become tyrants to their own villages. Most of Danzo's practices were tyrannical, which was what Hiruzen strove to avoid.

Yet in doing so he'd become so lax that he couldn't even trust his own shinobi to follow his laws, let alone civilians. It was an uncomfortable realization.

Having one's shortcomings thrown in their face was one of the worst things that could happen.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING****.**

-I'm writing Ch. 21 right now.

* * *

"Now, Yuuki-san, I called you here because I wanted to have a talk about your grades."

Yuuki fidgeted, honestly having not expected Iruka to come to the conclusion so quickly. But yeah. A few months in at the Shinobi Academy and he had gotten used to her presence and the way she handled herself in classes.

She just didn't think he'd pay so much attention to only _her_ to be able to pick out any patterns. An oversight.

"Your grades in the civilian school were top of the year and among the best that school had ever seen. Here, you're stuck somewhere in the middle of the class. I had assumed after some time needed to acclimate, your grades would rise and you'd be in the top for most everything, but you have plateaued instead. Is there anything wrong?"

Oh wow. He was actually one of those teachers who truly wanted all of his students to succeed and actually asked after their home lives to double check. Her respect for him doubled then and there.

"There's nothing wrong, it's just a part of my plan. You've noticed I do perfectly on homework but always manage a certain grade number in all of our exams, yes?"

The man nodded.

"Well I've considered everything already. I'm poor and an orphan. I'm currently earning two stipends from two sources that run out the moment I become a Genin or physically become an adult in the eyes of Konoha. I can't afford to graduate early and I know that me excelling so quickly and in so many courses would draw unnecessary attention I wouldn't be able to fight off."

She paused to make certain he was keeping up.

"And I'm saving up as much money as I can for that first year as a Genin who suddenly has to pay their own bills with a crap pay, because it happens to every orphan. I also don't want to be an early graduate because you remember what the last person to graduate early did under all the stress he wasn't ready to be put under and I don't want to end up like him."

Yes, she just alluded to Uchiha Itachi and what he'd done to his whole clan as a pre-teen on the cusp of teenhood. She maintained the belief that he had been forced into the shinobi life too soon, forced into more difficult missions when he showed ability too soon, and therefore forced into the PTSD-ridden mind of a seasoned veteran shinobi far too soon.

Iruka instantly paled and she didn't know which part of her explanation did it. Mentioning Itachi, understanding the Uchiha situation when apparently most children didn't get told or got a glossed over explanation, or something else entirely.

"So you're deliberately getting the exact same score on every exam so you can stay in the middle of the ranks and graduate on time with everyone else?"

"Yep. I'm picking up what you're putting down, sensei, there's just certain things at play here and I really don't ever want to be so poor again or have to fall into debt just to survive in my own village."

She'd seen the Hana District and all the people out on the corners. They couldn't even get into a life as escorts because they couldn't even afford the basics necessary to at least _look_ put together enough for such a tough job. Konoha, the most prosperous of the shinobi villages, residing in the most prosperous of the elemental nations, had a homeless and poverty problem a mile wide. She was not oblivious to this fact that so many wanted to be.

The orphanage was just one step away from that kind of a life for her and she was doing her damn best to avoid it entirely.

Iruka placed a hand on her shoulder, his face a mask of sympathy. "I'm sorry that you've had to live this way, Yuuki-san."

She shrugged. "Others have it way worse. It's not super bad now and I'm doing better than I ever was before, but it'll be some time before I won't be worried every other day."

"If you can keep up this average you're going for in total during your entire time here, I will leave you to your own devices so long as you continue to do your homework so well and you behave, okay?"

"Thanks, sensei!"

He was awesome. It was no wonder that Loudmouth liked him so much.

* * *

Nara Shikamaru didn't know why but he kept getting paired off with everyone but Choji when it came to their exercises. Choji was the most preferable out of everyone, followed quickly by Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, and Yuuki. Only because those three were quiet and not troublesome to be around.

Still, he found himself with Yuuki in certain tasks a lot. Which didn't really make any sense to him. They were very similar even if they had startling differences. So putting such similar attitudes in the same group didn't seem like it would work.

**Firstly:** Quiet. Sometimes it was easy to forget that both were around because they did very little to draw attention to themselves. And didn't speak when it wasn't necessary to.

**Secondly:** Sleeping. While not as frequently as Shikamaru, Yuuki fell asleep in class and expressed no remorse for it.

**Thirdly:** Scoring. Both were perfectly aware of their scoring in the class and maintained their grades with ease. Shikamaru knew what point he couldn't let himself fall below in order to stay in the A-Class. This way he could exert as little effort as possible without it being detrimental and getting him in trouble with his mother. Yuuki seemed to like being in the middle of the class rankings even if he was far smarter than his scores suggested. The fact that he received the same grade on every exam while his homework score remained perfect, was telling.

**Fourthly:** Observation. While not immediately obvious, the two observed a lot and came to their conclusions very quickly. Not always the same ones but their minds worked pretty fast on them.

So in important ways, they were similar. If Iruka-sensei was trying to foster a harder work ethic, putting them together didn't seem like a smart idea. Yuuki was willing to get work done if he had to, without complaint, but _only_ if it really came down to it. Shikamaru was similar but with actual complaining and making the process hard on everyone involved to get back at them for dragging him into it.

But still, they'd been placed together again for this assignment.

To test their abilities, they'd been dumped in a training ground and told to '_capture the flag_'. The longest time available was twenty-four hours before they'd be extracted personally by a Chunin sensei. But if they found the flag before the time ran out, all they had to do was use the flare they'd been given and someone would bring them back to the Academy where they'd have a sleepover until the entire exercise was finished and everyone was accounted for.

Yuuki stared him down. "Can you swim yet?"

"No." He'd have to learn how to if the Academy was serious about these little tests of theirs. And that meant his mother was going to be on him nonstop with training and it was going to be troublesome!

"Then I'll take the river, you search the nearby trees. Sensei said the flag we need is red. If we grab the wrong color we'll have to repeat and I don't want to do that if I don't have to."

"Same. What a drag. Have fun splashing around."

He spent the next twenty minutes wandering around, looking at tree trunks for nooks and crannies and checking the high branches that would be difficult to get to if one couldn't climb. Even spots for possibly dug up earth.

Nothing. And nothing smelled different either so he couldn't pick up any additional scents. Tracking wasn't his area of expertise but even he had some basic skills in it.

"Found it!" Yuuki's voice screamed from the river.

Well that was easy.

When he broke through the treeline, he found the boy shaking his head to get rid of the excess water so it wouldn't drip on his still dry sweatshirt that he had obviously taken off so as to not have it dragging him down all evening. In his right had was a large, red flag.

"The water was deeper than expected and cold as hell. Glad I took this thing off because I need warmth."

Both plopped onto the ground as they waited for someone to show up and guide them out of the grounds. The flare was very bright and let off smoke so someone would come eventually upon seeing it.

Shikamaru cast a look at the other boy whose hands were glowing blue with chakra and running slowly over his exposed legs. Distantly he recalled a note about how Yuuki used chakra to keep warm. He'd told Iruka-sensei that during one of the Leaf Floating exercises. Being a civilian with no shinobi friends or family, already knowing how to use chakra had been a shock to nearly everyone.

Iruka-sensei descended upon them a few minutes later and smiled. "First finished. Not the first to find your flag but the first to capture it at least. Well done. And don't think I didn't notice you climbing trees and actually working, Shikamaru-san."

The proud look on the Chunin's face made Shikamaru flush just a bit. Embarrassment was a drag.

And now he was going have higher expectations placed on his shoulders! An even bigger drag.

* * *

Hinata continued to help Yuuki out in Taijutsu. Occasionally Buggy would join in with his own observations though he didn't get up close and personal like Hinata did. The two were very calm compared to many of the other students. Not loud, not obnoxious, not annoying. It was a lovely rapport they'd built up.

Yuuki didn't know if she could call them friends. That was a concept she'd witnessed before, but had never been a part of.

In her nearly nine years of existence, Yuuki had only seen maybe one example of true friendship. And that was between Pineapple and Chubby. According to word around the schoolyard, their families were friends and they'd known each other for quite some time already and remained by each other's side every day. Pineapple judged people by how they treated his friend. If they were rude to him, ignored his existence, or fat-shamed him, then Pineapple hated them on principle and would tell them off.

It was kinda sweet actually. The kind of friend everyone needed.

On the flip side, she'd seen a lot of friendships shift too quickly to keep up with.

In the orphanage there were groups of boys and groups of girls. One day there'd be five boys and then the next one would be outcasted for some dumb reason. Same with the girls. Those friendships seemed very conditional. Komatsuzawa from the civilian school was abandoned by his supposed friends when Yuuki laid him out without remorse. That proved they only cared about him being the most wealthy among them and wanted the benefits they got from associating with him.

At the Academy she'd witnessed other examples. Pinky and Blondie were friends when Yuuki transferred into Class 2-A. And they had been in the Broody Fanclub together to gush about how '_hot_' Broody was even though there was no way an eight year old could be hot. That'd be weird as hell.

Some time in the past month or so the two stopped being friends and became these incredibly loud nitwits who had to fight over everything. All because both decided they'd marry Broody when they were all adults and no one else could have him. Like he was some kind of prize. That friendship was destroyed over a boy.

Broody wasn't even interesting! So he was best at most things in class, so what? That didn't mean his personality was great.

Yuuki had actually decided to look him up too and that was how she'd found out about the boy's clan and what had happened last year. It was tragic and depressing and it explained what was wrong with him. But to glorify his lonesome behavior was messed up. She heard some of the girls sighing dramatically over how they '_wanted to heal his broken heart, the poor tragic hero_'.

Wanting to date someone just because they didn't die with the rest of their slaughtered clan was…

Yeah.

So with all these examples of how friendships could go south very quickly, she was very hesitant to just claim she had friends. She was friendly with some people and tried to just be decent overall, but no, Yuuki did not have any friends yet.

In a way, maybe it was for the better. Jumping into things she didn't understand wouldn't help her at all.

Out of the corner of her eyes, something black moved, drawing her thoughts back to the present. When she glanced down, she found one of Buggy's bugs on her sweatshirt, crawling up her chest. "Hey, I think your many-legged friend here got lost."

He held up a hand and the creature took flight, rejoining its hive and their partner immediately.

"Thank you for not killing her."

She shrugged. "The crawlies that truly get to me are centipedes and scorpions. The multitude of legs and the weird shapes just don't sit right with me. And some get really fucking huge and their venom is more dangerous the bigger they are."

She shuddered just thinking about them. One time, a centipede the size of her arm dropped down on her head when she was trying to wash her hands in the bathroom at the orphanage. It made a loud '_thunk_' when it hit the sink. It was traumatizing.

Hinata giggled into her palm and looked away so as to not embarrass her. Buggy's glasses flashed but he remained silent.

Yuuki liked them a lot.

* * *

The Second Year class of the Academy finished without much fanfare. There was a two week vacation between it and the beginning of Third Year. Nothing important happened in that time frame, but Yuuki was able to plot out her new budget for the next year.

When term started up anew, she found some new faces in the room that was missing some old faces. It was now class 3-A and this was where it got interesting when it came to shinobi schooling.

With the five years it took to get to graduation, the classes shrank. A, B, C, D, and E for First Years. A, B, C, and D for Second Years. A, B, and C for Third Years. A and B for Fourth Years. Finally at Fifth Year, remained Class A. With the passing of each year, the best students would move up a class and the worst would stay behind a year or drop out.

So a few students were missing from what was Class 2-A because they'd not passed along to third year classes, and the top students who had been in Class 2-B last year, took their places in the now Class 3-A. And Class 3-B now had some kids formerly of Class 2-C who had been good enough to move up a class.

In Fourth Year it would be the same cycle until their entire graduation year were all in a single classroom. This was how it worked in the Shinobi Academy because not everyone was cut out for the shinobi way of life. Some lost interest, others lost ambition. Some just didn't want to do it at all and were being forced by family so they flunked out deliberately.

The biggest thing to notice was all the clan kids from the former year remained. Of course none of them would leave. The chances of them dropping in class too were slim to none. Having that extra support at home gave them an edge over the rest of the student body. All of them were Heirs or Heir Apparents too so they had to stay.

Yuuki would admit to a bit of jealousy, but she wasn't bitter. She was thinking more along the lines of access to private libraries than special training or Hiden Jutsu. Books were cool, physical exercise was not.

Everyone she preferred had made it through though, so that was nice. In this new year the expectations were even higher, so what passed for a middle ranking last year, would fall toward the bottom of the class this year as things improved and their schedules became more clustered. It would take a few weeks to pick up the new flow and where she should situate herself into it.

"As Third Year students, you will be expected to put more effort into your work. There will be less written work from now on and more hands-on work. Your Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu classes will be longer. Practical application is going to be pushed more," Iruka told them on the first day back in April.

The first day was just to familiarize them with the new schedule. What they'll be doing and for how long.

She wasn't looking forward to the practical exercises. That meant a lot more work was necessary when she could be resting.

But the lower amount of written work was nice too!

Sometimes being caught between a root and a tree was annoying.

* * *

"Yuuki-san, you're up against Shikamaru-san," said Iruka-sensei while looking at his clipboard.

She and Pineapple looked at each other closely, and she turned back to the Chunin to ask, "Can I just give up now?" Fighting him wasn't the birthday present she wanted! Though she'd never gotten a birthday present to begin with.

"Why?" he asked, baffled by her behavior.

"'Cause he's smarter than me so I'll obviously lose."

There was a round of snickers from the majority of the class. And not in the she was such a funny character kind of thing. More of the, no way is he that smart as he was almost the dead last of the class, kind of thing. But hey, if they wanted to be obtuse, then they could go right ahead. Lack of motivation did not equal lack of intelligence and it was a shame that it took years for people to grasp that simple fact.

"Let's get this over with," Pineapple said, stepping into the ring and looking bored as usual.

"Fine," she grumbled.

"Hajime!"

Pineapple stood still. Their approach to battle was very similar. Usually wait for the other person to move first. Though while Yuuki just reacted on instinct, he actually planned out moves and needed distance to do it.

When several minutes passed and it became obvious neither were planning to move, Yuuki sighed. Get it over with, lick her wounds later.

She rushed him, fist raised. As expected, he crouched to avoid the strike but as she'd been prepared for that, she dropped immediately to sweep his legs out from under him. It was a successful play, but he reached out and grabbed her arm to drag her down with him.

Both hit the ground at the same time and she yanked him around, rolling them both out of the ring at the same time.

If she wasn't wearing the bodysuit of mesh armor her knees would have been fucked up. Forethought was so useful. She was a genius!

"You're both out!"

Pineapple groaned and sat up. "That's one way to get it over with," he groused as he stretched out his arm, loosening up the sore muscles from the hard landing he had.

"Make the Seal of Reconciliation."

They did so, and the rest of the matches progressed from there.

Taijutsu was interesting, she just wished she didn't have to pull her punches so to speak. She wanted to fight against someone where using chakra punches wouldn't make her feel guilty.

And when it was over she wanted a big bowl of congratulatory rice to make it all worth while in the end.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING, **mentions of future **SASUNARU, **and things associated with **PUBERTY.**

-I'm writing Ch. 23 right now.

**400 Ryo** = about **$37**.

**1600 Ryo** = about **$148**.

* * *

"You've been kidnapping civilian children not so subtly this entire time, Danzo! I ordered for Ne to be disbanded and you went behind my back and continued your actions anyway, even though you stopped targeting clan kids. You do not care for your village or your country, you simply care for power. You have become nothing but a traitor to what Konoha stands for, all out of jealousy for not being trusted with the position of Kage."

The shinobi in the room shifted as the Hokage's KI filled the room. Danzo, the elder on the Council who was being verbally destroyed in front of them, remained stoic in the face of these accusations.

"Once again, we will be searching through all of your properties and extracting your slaves both old and new in which you will remove the marks from every single Ne member we get our hands on. It is only by luck that you don't have anything obvious against you worth a full conviction in the eyes of Konoha law. But we are all aware of your actions and you will be put on permanent watch. All Konoha shinobi Chunin Rank and up will be notified of the fullest extent of the situation and every shinobi in Konoha will be forbidden from taking any orders from you. You are removed from the Council henceforth and will be confined to your family compound until the day of your death or you are once again called to my office."

Danzo glared. "You're a fool, Hiruzen."

"No," the Sandaime countered, "I'm looking out for my people and your medieval methods shouldn't have ever been allowed to continue. I gave you this position because I felt guilty over your disappointment over not obtaining my position. I thought I could trust your loyalty to Konoha above anything else and naively hoped that would be the end of it. I even looked the other way after you attempted to kill me to take the position by force because I thought I understood your feelings."

As one, the shinobi who were unaware of that little bit, all stiffened in horror. Danzo had actually put a hit on the Hokage's head. And the old man hadn't thrown him in prison immediately when it happened.

If anyone had been skeptical of the goings on before, they were stone-faced now. Such treason against a man who had done nothing but defend you and help you your whole life, was inexcusable. Any pity Danzo might have gained, was squashed instantly. They had known he disagreed with their leader, they didn't think it had gone so far of course.

"I know that even when I order you to return all of your soldiers into my care, you won't hand over all of them. Make no mistake, Danzo, that I will find them all sooner or later. And if you do not comply as you should, I will do the unthinkable and expose our most recent blunder to the entire continent, my own reputation be damned."

Whatever the Hokage spoke of, saw Danzo stiffening in terror, the old man finally looking worried.

It was a rough day for all the witnesses.

* * *

Tell a new story through Konoha Sign Language.

That was the title of their assignment. What some of the kids didn't get was you had to make up a story of your own. One that wasn't a myth or a legend of anything. And then translate it into signs.

A lot of people didn't have a creative bone in their bodies, so making up a story would be hard. That meant writing it out and having to have great grammar in written language, and then translating it into signs and having great grammar in signed language.

Oddly though, Yuuki had a dream that night after the assignment had been given. She'd gone to bed pondering the potential stories she could tell, and ended up having a dream that could be a really cool story if she got her grammar correct in translation. She'd never read anything like it and no one had ever told her bedtime stories before so it had to come from her own mind. She didn't know where _else_ it could have come from after all.

Thankfully the assignment wasn't due for a month so there was time to finish it, but still. She preferred to get everything out of the way as soon as possible. Less work later on meant more sleep for Yuuki.

First order of business was to write out the story. First draft, second draft, and then final draft it in written form. Followed by the translation.

Her dream had been of a strange land filled with people that looked nothing like the people she was used to. And they spoke words that sounded different but made sense to her brain anyway. And in this dream there was a big forest filled with odd creatures unlike any she'd ever read about before.

Trees that could walk and humanoid beings with wings. And one such being had massive horns and black, feathery wings. She meets a human boy and they become friends. Over time his greed interferes with their relationship as he seeks prestige in the nearby kingdom that wants to destroy this enchanted forest and its creatures.

It was a pretty detailed dream and she couldn't believe she'd come up with it on her own. But no fictional story she'd ever read had come anywhere near that, so she assumed she had a few creative bones somewhere inside and left it at that as she began to write it out.

Hopefully this active imagination she had in her dreams ended up being useful long into the future.

* * *

"So like, are you into Loudmouth or something?"

Hyuga Hinata _eeped_ loudly and turned around to see Yuuki standing next to her with a contemplating look on her face.

"You do a lot of stuff the fangirls of Broody do but without being creepy about it. Or being an asshole," the other girl observed frankly.

Her face had to be red. It was something she had poor control over and whenever Naruto came to mind, her face would get all warm. But she couldn't help that she admired him! He worked so hard all the time, even when things turned out to be unfair. Even when the world seemed to be against him. How could she not admire him?

She wanted to be like that.

"I-I admire Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered, feeling a bit more brave from just talking about him. "He works hard. He doesn't let anyone bring him down. He's nice to people even when has every reason not to be."

And Yuuki's face smoothed out into a look of understanding. "Those seem like nice reasons to fancy someone. Much better than glorifying the fact that he's an orphan like Broody's fangirls do. Though to get his attention you'll have to talk to him, you know that, right?"

The thought of even being able to converse with Naruto had Hinata feeling faint.

"Please don't pass out on me. I wouldn't know what to tell the nurse if you did."

With a bit of effort, Hinata managed to stay upright and awake.

"I don't know anything about wooing so_ I_ can't really help you, but he does live in the apartment at the top of the complex I live in if it helps."

Hinata smiled, touched that Yuuki would care enough to want to help in the first place.

"It isn't time yet," she assured her friend. When it felt like the proper time, Hinata would try her best to win Naruto's heart but not a moment too soon.

* * *

Life in the Academy seemed to pass by pretty quickly.

Yuuki ate, slept, went to school, did homework, slept, ate, slept, trained, went to school, slept, ate, trained, slept, did homework, slept, ate, trained, ate, slept, went to school, ate, did homework, slept, trained, slept, ate, etc… A lot of sleeping and eating were involved and it was a glorious time.

Many things came into perspective by the end of their Third Year at the Shinobi Academy though. She'd had a lot of time on her hands after all.

**1.)** Loudmouth was involved in something big. He had no idea either, but it was very obvious with enough attention paid to him and his surroundings. Something involving his birthday of October 10th. And as that was the day the Kyubi attacked, maybe people were superstitious. Though there had to be something more to the situation than that and she had enough dreams telling her there _was_ more but that it was a secret. Her dreams were never wrong it turned out.

**2.)** She had some kind of dreams that were able to show her living another life. One with a family. A mom and dad who looked like they'd be from Iwa. A little sister who would beam when she caught sight of her big sister. A best friend she lovingly referred to as '_chica_' which she had no idea what it meant. And some dreams would be about the real world. Naruto specifically. Just him as a ninja doing ninja things and being loud like usual. She wondered if they would come true. Especially after dreaming that he'd create the Oiroke no Jutsu and then a week later the blond demonstrating it on Iruka to try and expose him as a perv. It worked, just not the way he'd wanted.

**3.)** Her chakra control was really good and when she looked into possible careers for such, as her Taijutsu would never be something great if she couldn't use chakra with her hits, she found very few possibilities outside paperwork-based jobs that sounded dull. Basically it was either Genjutsu or Iryo Ninjutsu. And illusions were boring as fuck, but being a medic took a lot of work. Then again medics weren't allowed to fight and could only do so if they were the last alive on the team. But Genjutsu users tended to avoid personal confrontation too. But Genjutsu required creativity as well as perfect control. But her scores in the first aid courses were high and her Genjutsu scores weren't. So it was six in one hand, half a dozen in the other.

**4.)** Uchiha Sasuke was a lonely kid and might possibly have a crush on Uzumaki Naruto. The thought of Broody being into Loudmouth was almost laughable, especially since they butted heads all the time. But then again, opposites attract. She had no idea where such a sentiment came from but it felt familiar when she saw them interact. Hinata might have competition and Yuuki didn't know whose side she was supposed to take if it actually came down to a fight for the blond's heart.

**5.)** Iruka had practically adopted Naruto as his younger brother. Buying Naruto ramen at Ichiraku at least once a week confirmed this. He'd loosened up considerably even if he was still a hard ass in class. But he was an ass that cared about his students so it was okay.

**6.)** The Fourth Year students weren't all that much better in terms of skill. Yuuki got to watch a few of their spars and save for a couple students who stood out, they weren't impressive. She wondered if it was because they had even less time to acclimate to the new curriculum in order to benefit from it.

**7.)** Yuuki was not immune to the beckoning of romance. She had taken a good, long week to consider everything she knew about romance and sex. Introspection had taken her attention for quite some time. Finally, she came out with the belief that she too was susceptible to the desires of the heart. As in, she had a crush. On a boy. In her class. And as she spoke to so few of them, it took little effort to narrow the list down.

And that had brought her to this day. The first day of Fourth Year. Where she was about to turn eleven soon and had given these things much thought. But it was still true no matter the angle she came at it from.

Yuuki had a crush on Nara Shikamaru. Pineapple. Her reasoning: He was smart, he was a good friend to those he considered precious to him, he was kind even when he tried to pretend he wasn't, and he cared about people more than he let on. That was enough for her to be smitten.

So that was where it got real. She'd seen what other people with crushes did when under the influence, and it usually involved a lot of creepy staring and sometimes stalking to certain degrees. Therefore, in order to hopefully not become creepy, she'd was going to confront the issue boldly and with determination and make a promise that she wouldn't dare break because people who break promises suck.

It ended up with her tapping him on the shoulder during homeroom and his head lolling a bit to the side so he could glance at her through his lashed peripherals. "Muh?" he grunted inquisitively. Oddly, she found it to be quite charming, and blamed the crush for it since there was nothing amazing about being tired.

The girl took a deep breath. "I felt that I should warn you of this now as it involves you and I don't want this to interfere with anything as I will try my best not to let it," she began, mouth a little dry. Still, she plowed onward. "I have determined after much thought, that I have a crush on you. No, I will not become a fangirl, but if I stare a little too much now and then, please don't hate me."

Shikamaru and Choji both stared at her wide-eyed and open-mouthed in shock.

"Um… I'm not gay," said Pineapple, looking a bit confused.

It was Yuuki's turn to be confused as she had no idea what _that_ had to do with it. "Uh… good for _you_?" Good for him for knowing his interests already?

And that was that.

* * *

"Okay, what the fuck?"

Yuuki stared down at her chest in wonder. She'd just turned eleven - was the oldest kid in her class too - and just noticed how abnormal the pain in her chest was in recent days. And when she finally took a good look, she had breasts! Where did they come from so suddenly? She saw herself naked every day and never noticed them before! Things like that didn't just happen overnight!

Breasts meant bras. And breasts grew which meant multiple bras over the course of several years. Which meant wasting money! She hadn't bought new clothes in forever, and it had only been a new pair of shoes because her feet wouldn't stop growing for those few months! Thankfully, her feet seemed to decide that they'd be small forever so she wouldn't have to keep going back for more of those so long as she took care of hers. That was usually a sign that she'd remain relatively short herself in life and she was fine with that.

Were adjustable sports bras a thing? Would she have to alter some bras herself to get the desired effect? Sports bras kept everything in place like they should and the thoughts of underwire made her shiver with disdain.

Breasts jiggled with every movement because they were blobs of fat. That was sure to be uncomfortable when it came to stairs and running. Bras with foam cups didn't really keep them in place either as those could be displaced easily with the most subtle of movements. But a tight sports bra would do the job! Also they were usually cheaper and often came in packs that meant more for less.

Yuuki hated to spend money, sue her.

If she was more inclined toward the scientific side of life, she'd conduct an experiment to see just how long it took for her breasts to grow to recognizable size. But then she thought about how much additional and nonessential work that would give her, and she tossed that idea in the trash! It wasn't required and therefore she wouldn't be doing it! She could get in some extra sleep in the time it would take to make those observations on paper every day.

What mattered most was getting a few bras to contain her growing figure and then going back to pretending that nothing was changing. She already had her menstrual cycle, she didn't need this getting in the way too.

The woman at the shop giggled when Yuuki explained her problem and promised to help to the best of her ability.

Why were bras so expensive? What the fuck?

A whole 400+ Ryo for a single bra! Though it was actually adjustable and could be worn five ways, but still!

It wasn't as if she didn't have enough money saved up for emergencies, but she had to spend more than 1600 Ryo for four bras! Her wallet hurt so much! Her spirit had been thoroughly destroyed with no remorse!

'_Don't cry over spilled milk._'

Her head snapped up, wondering where that came from. She'd never heard anyone ever say that before but for some reason she still knew the meaning of it without having to try. Weird.

Sports bras were uncomfortable but not too bad that she couldn't live with them. Maybe a wrap would have been better? Would those work more? They covered more space on the torso after all. She'd have to test one out.

* * *

"Tonight you will write an informative essay on the pros and cons of soldier pills," Iruka told them that afternoon. "It has to be at least one thousand words long, and you must cite at least two sources."

Now while one night wasn't bad for Yuuki, she could tell that many students were not here for the assignment. Mostly because they had other work to do. But 1K wasn't a big number either, so it was definitely doable. Thank goodness she'd gotten most of her written assignments out of the way already. The Lazy Man's Load strikes again, proving her right!

Pineapple groaned into his folded arms, and Yuuki's attention was briefly caught by his eyes. Half lidded, his lashes came closer together and made it look like he was wearing eyeliner. And he would look really good in eyeliner, holy shit. Not fair.

Ugh! Having a crush was so annoying. It took her attention away from more important matters, like her food - such as the bento of onigiri she had in her lap and had been stealthily eating all class period - and she ended up staring a little too much sometimes in contemplation. At least she didn't do the blushing thing. Yuuki was probably too forward to be embarrassed by her own feelings. They were there and couldn't be stopped so why bother trying to hide it?

"_You_ shouldn't be complaining," she told him. "Your best friend is from the family that supplies Konoha with premium soldier pills. You both have an easier road to doing this than anyone else here does."

He cast her an unimpressed look and said, "Putting pencil to paper is a drag."

True. But in his case he'd still have less work overall because he wouldn't have to go to the library in search of information. His workload was a lot smaller by his close association with Choji.

"Be grateful we have less written assignments this year overall."

"Meh!"

With their attitudes toward unnecessary work being so similar, it was no wonder that she'd developed a crush on him. Though usually opposites were what attracted each other. Shikamaru was like the male version of her basically.

The thought made her pause for a moment in consideration. Was her crush based on _narcissism_?

"I hear you all complaining and I think you should be grateful I'm not making you present these ones in front of the class," Iruka added after a few minutes of low whining from the students.

Heads snapped up instantly in terror. "You're going to make us present _other_ ones to the class?!" one of the fangirls asked in horror.

Iruka's charming smile did not make anyone feel any better. The thought of having to get up in front of everyone and speak was just not it. Fighting was one thing but some people just weren't eloquent enough for public speaking. And that would definitely be an exercise in coaching them through public speaking. She wasn't stupid. She knew how these things worked.

Iruka was pure evil in an adorable package.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING, **mentions of future **SASUNARU, **and things associated with **PUBERTY.**

-I'm writing Ch. 24 right now.

* * *

Shino sighed and adjusted his glasses. No matter how much he crossed his fingers, it seemed he was never put on a group project with Yuuki. He didn't want o just come out and ask for it, but he'd like to be in her group at least once!

Today was the assignment of another sort of exercise to prepare them for shinobi life and he just _knew_ that they wouldn't be on the same team! Like usual! It wasn't often that he would get this emotional over something, but was it too much ask the forces of the universe to help him out just a little bit?

"Alright class, we have a special exercise today," said Iruka-sensei the moment he walked into the room. "We're going to slap some seals on you guys, tie you up in groups of two, and then have you do an obstacle course."

That didn't sound so bad.

"Nerve seals will be added to one of your legs. In doing so, any pressure put on that leg won't be registered in your mind and it will interrupt your balance and natural flow. The sealed legs will then be tied together and you'll have to rely on your other leg, and your partner's other leg, to get going."

Okay, that sounded far worse.

"Aburame Shino and Yuuki are Team #1."

THE UNIVERSE WAS WORKING IN HIS FAVOR!

His comrades buzzed excitedly in response to his sudden leap in emotions, but he couldn't help himself. All he had to do was complain and what he wanted would happen? This was great!

"Hey," Yuuki said once she was close enough, looking like the epitome of magnanimity. "Let's do our best to not suck."

"Noted," he replied, feeling somewhat short of breath.

"And I'll endeavor to not use my Katon Chakra around you so your bugs don't burn up."

"Much appreciated."

She even cared enough for the well-being of his comrades. Shino didn't care if she had feelings of the Nara Heir, he could prove himself to be more interesting in the long run. He just had to be patient and pray that his rival in love remained neutral long enough.

* * *

It was the beginning of their Fifth and last year at the Academy. For the most part at least. A lot of time had gone by and Yuuki could honestly say she felt prepared for shinobi life. As there was no way Genin would be shoved into super dangerous situations early on in the days where there was no war, she would have enough time to acclimate herself to the lifestyle once out of school.

Loudmouth was even louder than normal. She hadn't thought it was possible but he ascended through the octaves as his voice matured.

Turned out he'd tried to pass the Graduation Exam twice already as he qualified to take them for the past two years. He failed both times. But he wasn't giving up which was admirable in a sense. His failure was only because of the Bunshin. His chakra was too much for it. Why no one suggested he learn a different kind of Bunshin, she'll never know, but she took one for the team and told him one afternoon during their training that maybe a different clone would be better for him.

And for some reason the words, '_Kage Bunshin_' popped into her head as well as an explanation of splitting the chakra evenly to make a replica of oneself that was solid.

The blond stared her down for a few seconds, before making the hand seal she showed him, and splitting his chakra in half, into a mold exactly like him. Immediately, a look alike of him popped into existence in a cloud of smoke. It looked pretty close, if a bit off in color, and it fell over like it had fainted. However, unlike his Bunshin that kind of deflated like balloons, it remained solid. And when they poked it, it was actually solid and held shape and their fingers didn't just go through it.

"Where'd you learn _that_?" he asked her in awe. It was the closest he'd gotten to a real success in any kind of Bunshin after all.

She shrugged. "I guess I saw someone do it once? I know I didn't make it up."

How to explain that she got weird dreams and visions and auditory hallucinations that were very helpful half of the time? It didn't sound like something a sane person would say and she didn't want any possible drama that came from it.

"I'm gonna work super hard on this! -ttebayo!" the boy exclaimed, deafening her even further.

"You got one school year left to do it so if you want to graduate with the rest of us, get to steppin'."

* * *

It happened unexpectedly, which was why she didn't dodge in time. It came from behind, and it wasn't an attack per se, so she hadn't felt the urge to move out of the way. There was no onset of pressing palpitations that made her feel unsafe and wary either.

Puppy had been rushing down the stairs between the desks, someone must have bumped into him as he wasn't a klutz by nature, and the juice box he'd been drinking went flying, landing on Yuuki. Her hair, neck, and sweatshirt were all soaked with red and she'd be lucky if she could get the stain out later on. She would have been be all sticky and gross for the rest of the day if she didn't take care of it pronto!

"Sensei, can I please go emergency treat this? I don't want to have to buy a new one if I can avoid it."

Iruka sent her a look filled with sympathy and nodded toward the door. "I'll put the heater on and you can place it on the heater to dry it faster when you come back."

"Thanks, sensei." Awesome man. Her ride or die.

Yuuki turned to the rest of the class, ignoring Puppy's stuttered apologies, to ask, "Can someone lend me their coat for the rest of the day?" As in, the one day she didn't wear clothes under her sweatshirt would be the day in which she couldn't wear her sweatshirt? What the fuck?

And she hadn't done it deliberately or anything! It just happened! The prior night was laundry day. She'd ended up training with Naruto again, and got a little too tired since he was a stamina fiend and she wasn't. Waking up an hour and a half before school started and realizing she had no clean clothes to wear, was a bummer.

She'd attempted a speed wash in the bathroom sink of a pair of underwear, a sports bra, one of the mesh armor suits, and her usual shorts/shirt combo. The smaller items were wrung out and successfully air-dried on a hanger in the shower, but the rest was just too much fabric. And she'd had the stray thought of using her Katon Chakra to fix the issue. Heat against damp cloth would help dry it out and get rid of the excess liquid faster. It was a no-brainer! She'd located her chakra nature better than most in the class so it should have been easy!

But it was not meant to be.

Yuuki _burned_ her _damp_ clothes instead, because she put too much oomf into the chakra technique. So yeah, no clean clothes, and she wouldn't wear dirty ones because they all smelled really bad and would be noticeable to various shinobi-in-training. And since no one would ever notice if she _didn't_ wear clothes under her sweatshirt or not, she'd decided just put on the armor, underwear, and bra and act like nothing was different!

How was she to know that this would be the day she'd get fucked over? It had all been going so well! She'd made it past lunch! Only a couple of hours were left!

No one offered up their clothing when she asked for some assistance, and she huffed. "Nobody? No one wants to be my hero? No one _at all_? I see how it is." '_Top 10 Anime Betrayals of all Time!_' came to mind immediately.

She stomped from the room. She'd have to rinse her hair off as well. It was still short, only touching her ears if she was lucky, but it was very spiky and kind of defied gravity a bit. And there was enough juice for it to be gross as hell once it dried. The sugary liquid trickled down the back of her ear and made her shiver.

Gross.

When she stepped into the girl's room, a bunch of girls gaped in front of the mirror and began falling over themselves to grab their possessions and tell her to get out. Like she gave two shits about their beauty needs. She had a fucking crisis on hand!

"No. Now _move_."

She shrugged out of her sweatshirt, leaving herself clad in her mesh armor bodysuit and the black sports bra and panties she'd worn beneath it. The girls gaped as they scrambled to get out of the way. So her breasts were bigger than theirs were. It wasn't that big of a deal. She had just turned twelve in May and had been growing for quite some time already. And the blobs of fat grew like no one's business! They were heavy and annoying and they hurt her back half the time. And she even had stretchmarks already! Twelve and already had stretchmarks from doing nothing!

A liberal amount of the world's cheapest and most watery hand soap was poured over the red stain on her poor sweatshirt and then cold water was used to scrub it out as best as possible. Thankfully it was off-white and bleach might be able to fix it later on but she'd raise hell if it didn't. If the bleach turned it a pure white she didn't care so long as the terrible stain marring her favorite piece of clothing was gone.

Cold water was useful when trying to get most food and beverages out of clothing if they weren't tomato-based. It was a fact that many remained unaware of for some reason. And at least the school had good water pressure unlike her apartment. Speed-washing had taken so long that morning because they had no heat in the complex and the water pressure sucked most of the time.

While the sweatshirt soaked, she used another sink to dunk her head and rinse off her neck, using that same, watery soap to clean the mess off. The stickiness of the juice was nasty and it was a shame that she couldn't take a shower to get totally clean. When she got home she'd take the longest shower ever. Hot water. Body wash. A scrubby that would be used until she was red raw.

The girls still hadn't left yet, she noted, watching her with veiled levels of horror. "Don't you have classes to get to?" she asked in irritation.

As one, they turned to leave, pushing and shoving each other until Yuuki was the only one left in the room.

The emergency treatment proved to work for the most part. The stain was reduced to a light pink which was much better than the glaring red that it had been before. She squeezed the excess water out and left the room. Thank goodness there wasn't an actual dress code beyond '_don't come naked_'. A glaring issue on the Academy's part but not her problem. Since no one had offered their coat when she asked so very nicely for someone to be her hero, no one could blame her for this!

When she stepped back into class, the entire room turned to her and went dead silent. Everyone was staring, much like the girls in the bathroom had while she went to lay her sweatshirt on the heater so it could dry.

"Yuuki-san," Iruka coughed delicately, looking a bit embarrassed, "why aren't you wearing clothes?"

"Technically I am," she pointed out. The bodysuit counted as a full outfit on its own that just happened to show most of her skin. Some shinobi _only_ wore mesh armor body suits. At least she had on her undies. "I passed out after training yesterday and didn't get to do my laundry, but I wasn't gonna wear dirty clothes to school 'cause that's gross and my speed-wash made the fabric too damp so when I tried to dry my clothes with my chakra, I burned them, so I just showered and tossed on what had managed to dry by then. It's not like you could tell it I was wearing clothes under the sweatshirt anyway, so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal and no one would ever know."

"Screw the clothes, you're a _girl_?!" Fangirl #4 yelled, looking shocked and mortified.

That was when she realized almost everyone was staring at her bust in obvious shock. Her boobs were bigger than even Hinata's were, but her sweatshirt usually hid it much like Hinata's coat did.

"You didn't know that I'm a girl?" she asked him, feeling unimpressed. Where was the vaunted observational skills of shinobi that they were all supposed to have? With all this training and they hadn't picked up on it? At all?

Fangirl #4's face went red instantly. "_No one_ knew! You dress like a damn boy and act nothing like a proper girl does!" What the hell even was a '_proper girl_'?

Looking around at all the shocked faces, Yuuki couldn't believe that the entire class honestly thought she was a boy. For nearly four years. "No one knew? Do I really look like a boy that much that no one knew?"

Buggy raised a hand and said, "I knew. Why? Because my Kikaichu told me when we met."

Puppy flushed and he and his ninken looked away. "Akamaru and I can smell your monthly visitor."

Hinata nodded along. "M-my Byakugan confirmed it. S-sorry. I didn't know if you were hiding it or not so I never said anything just in case it was supposed to be a secret."

So there she was, standing in the middle of her class, almost but not really naked, kind of cold but warming up thanks to the heater that was put on in the summer all for her benefit, and completely baffled over this news.

And then it hit her like a tidal wave and she whirled on Pineapple who was openly gaping in his own way, eyes very much fixed in the same place as the rest of the class. "_That's_ why you said you weren't gay! You thought I was a boy when I confessed to you!" She couldn't help but point at him to get her meaning across better.

His face went red instantly and he buried his head in his folded arms and groaned.

For fuck sake. She didn't personally see how anything she did was remotely masculine according to society's weird insistence on what was masculine and what was feminine. Short hair and Resting Disinterested-Bitch Face was really enough to make people confused over her gender? Did her sweatshirt really hide her figure that much because it reached the mid-thigh now and not many boys wore short-shorts like she chose to. And she was '_thicc_' too. Like somewhere between Shikamaru and Choji's sizes, not bone skinny like Pinky or Blondie were.

"Anyone wanna lend me their coat _now_ or am I supposed to be half-naked all day long?" she asked, enjoying the varying shades of pink that filled her classmates' faces. They deserved this embarrassment for being so shit at basic observation.

Eventually, Iruka offered up his Chunin vest and since he was taller than her, it managed to cover her entire torso. And it smelled good too, what the hell?

Not as good as Pineapple did of course, but still pretty good.

Speaking of the bestest buddies of the class, Shikamaru and Choji couldn't look at her for the rest of the day, and she sighed in annoyance.

Gender reveal aside, was it really that big of a change? So she had boobs and was decently proportioned for a twelve year old who'd been going through puberty for four years and worked out somewhat weekly. So what?

Yuuki had hoped the situation would die down by the following morning.

Spoiler alert: it didn't.

* * *

Shikamaru could not believe that he hadn't noticed his seatmate was a girl. He supposed it was because she didn't act as any of the girls he knew of. Though Hinata could be excluded to an extent, but it was mostly her shyness that made her so quiet. She represented one type of woman and most of the women he knew, represented the other type.

From his mother, to his cousins, to his friends' mothers, to the girls in the Academy, he'd come to expect a certain attitude type from women in general. And Yuuki hadn't really displayed anything of the sort he'd come to expect.

She didn't nag. She didn't have long, flowing hair or care enough about it to manage it with hair care products. Her voice wasn't high-pitched. It was more raspy the entire time he'd known her, kind of like Naruto's was. She was kind of lazy in her own way and while she was take-charge in a sense, she wasn't controlling and rude about it. She never wore makeup like the other girls did. Even Hinata wore light lip gloss and painted her nails occasionally.

Generalizing an entire gender wasn't right and he knew that objectively, but it wasn't his fault that every female individual he'd ever met shared similar mindsets and could be lumped into two different groups. The only reason he believed older women _weren't_ fangirls was because they were older and lost their childish interests. Besides, in older age they still fangirled, but not like how Sasuke's fangirls did.

It was more of planning marriages before their children were even toddlers, discussing the future attraction babies would have, and gossiping about attractive men despite being married already. Yes, he'd heard enough on his own to gather that it was just a common thing between women both civilian and kunoichi.

To have his preconceived notions completely shattered was difficult to come to terms with. Shikamaru had never made a mistake when judging someone's character before.

Perhaps he should take it as a lesson to never assume he had all the information and answers. Maybe he wasn't _always_ the smartest person in the room around his age.

Turning away from his shock over being wrong for once, he focused on the fact that Yuuki was a _girl_! As in, he was an eleven year old slacker who put next to no effort in anything, and yet someone had actually looked at him, assessed him thoroughly, and decided that they had a crush on _him_. Then came to him and told him about it to his face as a sort of warning.

It sounded weird to think about. At eleven he didn't think he had anything to really offer anyone but apparently Yuuki didn't agree.

What was it that she saw in him because he certainly couldn't see it. She knew he was smart, and Choji also knew he was smart, but no one else in the class believed it. On the outside he was dull. Unimportant. Easy to overlook. Not someone any sane person would want to be on a team with because on the surface he seemed to contribute nothing. That was what he aimed for. Being underestimated was the best advantage he could have in life.

But still, someone had a crush on Nara Shikamaru.

Was he supposed to do something about it? Like, he wasn't gay, he knew that from a pretty young age. He'd taken the time to categorize his interests ages ago to determine what he wanted when he was older, and knew he was attracted to girls _only_ so far, despite how many of them annoyed him. But now he had proof of a girl liking him and didn't know what to do!

And she didn't harass him for dates or touch him without consent. Meaning she probably didn't expect anything from him and didn't think anything would come of her crush.

He liked her well enough as a person. She didn't hate Choji, didn't bully Choji, and didn't make Shikamaru stay awake in class. Being paired with her for exercises had been simple and calm. She didn't badger him to do better in school either. She teased him a lot too but kept to herself and didn't barge into his business.

Shikamaru didn't want to be like Sasuke. Though if he thought about it objectively, it wasn't as if Sasuke was in the wrong with his attitude toward his fangirls.

Sasuke showed none of the girls who liked him any positive attention. Sometimes he was a big jerk in return. Then again, those same girls groped him without consent, followed him home a lot, and screamed in his ears. They also romanticized the slaughtering of his clan which was fucked up enough as it is. Even Ino did it which was shocking since her family cared so much about mental health and trauma.

In a way, if they couldn't even extend common decency to Sasuke by respecting his personal space or the trauma he went through, did Sasuke have to be nice to them? Shikamaru firmly believed in treating people how they deserved, based upon how they treated you.

The Uchiha was short with everyone, but he didn't bag on Choji's weight, didn't mock Shino for his clan's Hiden techniques, didn't attack Hinata for being shy unlike her pompous clan was. He riled up Kiba so they'd have good sparring matches and with Naruto he was basically a little boy pulling a girl's pigtails because he had a crush on the blond and didn't know how to deal with it since he had no one left to teach him how to be a better person. His crush was dead obvious at least to Shikamaru. Maybe even Shino too since the Aburame was very observant himself.

Today had been a troublesome day. Too much to think about. Too much to to _worry_ about.

When he stepped foot in his house, his mother was the first to see him and immediately noted his demeanor. "What's wrong?" she asked, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. Her posture screamed, '_I will destroy the one who hurt you, just give me their name_'.

"The boy who has a crush on me is actually a girl."

He didn't really know how else to phrase it and there was no point in hiding it either since he would probably be pretty distracted by it for a while.

"And _how_ did you find this out?" his mother asked, looking amused.

"Kiba spilled his drink on her and because she had no clean laundry today, she had nothing on under her sweatshirt but a mesh armor bodysuit and... underclothes. And she does _not_ look twelve under the sweatshirt." He felt very awkward in mentioning that but it wasn't his fault that she didn't look like the rest of the girls in their class and that the first thing that stuck out when her sweatshirt was gone was her... yeah. His face flushed as he remembered how she walked into the classroom.

Nara Yoshino snorted into her fist, eyes sparkling with mirth at his suffering.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Of course she wouldn't be any help to him.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING, **mentions of things associated with **PUBERTY**, mentions of **WEIGHT AND BODY CONCERNS**, mentions of things of associated with **MENSTRUATION**, somewhat graphic detail of **VOMITING**, a **HOSPITAL VISIT**, and **DELIBERATELY MORBID DEPICTIONS OF MENSTRUAL ISSUES**.

-I promise that I don't go into that much detail when the official homework assignment  
gets read aloud. I wrote a long paragraph first, then replaced half of it with ellipses to  
show the passage of time over a very long subject, for comedic effect. I personally do  
not think anything would squick you.

**400K Ryo** = about **$36,525**.

-So I wanted something gross for Yuuki to use for her assignment and remembered  
the one time I was rushed to the hospital when I was 12. So I just used that whole  
experience here, plus all the details and info I learned then. It's a true story. It is my  
story. Scared the shit out of me as a kid but is now interesting to explain.

* * *

It had been a week since The Incident and Yuuki had finally had enough. Nothing about her had changed beyond her favorite sweatshirt now being white because she'd had to bleach it if she wanted to save it but not look like the stereotypical poor child that got sneers from the self-righteous when they walked by.

However, her breasts were once again covered and she apparently returned to her '_boyish_' appearance according to Naruto. And most of the class still wasn't over it yet. A lot of the boys apparently couldn't decide how to treat her. And that was a load o bull too because invalidating someone's interests based on their perceived gender was fucking stupid no matter what.

Anyway, she'd finally gotten to that point where she had to speak up. And only to the people she cared to speak to. The opinions of the people she never spoke to and didn't even know meant nothing to her in the end. She just thought they were afflicted with the incurable illness known as stupidity.

"So I have a vagina and can potentially have children at any time. Why does this change anything? My attitude has remained the same. I'm not suddenly a different person just because I'm not how you all thought I was. Why is this such a difficult thing to grasp for certain people?" she demanded of her seatmates.

Shikamaru groaned and looked away - though he hadn't really bee looking at her all week to begin with - his face a bright shade of pink. "It's a bunch of troublesome things at once. You're a girl, but you don't act like any _I_ know. You have a crush on me, but don't act like the other girls who have crushes on people. I was wrong about something for once and I don't like it. It's all very confusing for me. No doubt it'd harder on the rest of them."

"How many women do you actually _know_ though?" Yuuki asked him, quirking a disbelieving brow at him. "'Cause maybe you don't realize it, but the human race is many a varied thing and while we may share similar characteristics with others, no one is truly the same when we get down to the nitty-gritty of it all."

The boy grumbled into his folded arms and refused to look her way still.

"And furthermore… you're wealthy. You live a privileged life and every woman you come into regular contact with besides me, is living the same life. Be they blood relatives, a friend's relatives, or what have you. They were all born into that life because rarely do powerful clans allow their members to marry of befriend people without good social standing tacked onto their names. The reason you are exposed to a certain type of woman is because those women have the same privileges as you do and grew up under certain expectations. Talk to a woman middle class or below for more than a few seconds and you'll find a vastly different network of connections and experiences."

Hell, every girl in their class besides Yuuki was from a very wealthy family. Even the civilians. So they all, when the fangirling was removed from the equation, had similar expectations placed upon them and acted on them all the time. Usually they were expected to marry well first and foremost, and then to birth strong heirs. Bullshit in her opinion, but that was what wealthy clans and old families liked most. It was a proven fact with centuries of proof to back it up.

"So basically, that whole thing of '_not like any girl I know_' is just because you don't know many girls and can't properly judge anyone. Get some perspective."

Beside him, Choji snorted into his bag of salt & vinegar chips.

Shikamaru remained in a surly mood for the rest of the day and Yuuki took every chance she found to subtly mock him over it. It wasn't that big of a deal, he was just overreacting.

* * *

"Maybe you should just get a new outfit," Naruto suggested, watching as Yuuki kept trying to adjust her shorts through the fabric of her sweatshirt. It was the fourth time during their weekly training session that this had happened and they had to stop their sparring.

"No! I can still make them work even to graduation," the girl grunted as she tried stretching out the fabric. "Graduation is a good reason to buy newish clothes. But I'm not doing it before then, Sage help me!"

He shook his head. She'd just told him that her clothes weren't fitting much anymore. The mesh was no longer long enough to wear without impeding her movements in training, it was a little too tight now, and it made her uncomfortable. Also, her underwear didn't fit as well now because she kept putting on weight only in certain places. Naruto wasn't sure how that worked exactly, but something about her doing crunches frequently meaning the weight she gained would go somewhere else.

"Wouldn't regular weight lifting or something stop this if it's so bad?" the blond asked.

Yuuki snorted. "I'm in the middle of puberty. Too much of those specific types of exercises could be a problem later on. Anyway, we all grow differently. Fat is gathering on my chest and my hips faster than I like but on others it could gather in the tummy or the thighs or the face. We are still growing right now so as long as we stay relatively active and eat healthy we shouldn't be worrying so much about weight and size, 'cause I could hit a growth spurt randomly and shoot up 15 cm by graduation and this weight gain won't show. Contrary to popular belief, being of a low physical weight does not mean you are healthy."

Since Yuuki was better in the medical classes than him and did really good in Health too, he'd take her word for it.

"I still think you should just get a new wardrobe now." Save herself the hassle of having flexible metal digging into her skin every day for the next seven months. It would leave permanent indentations eventually.

"Graduation!"

"Fine!"

* * *

"During the break, you will write a report on whatever you do over the next two weeks," Iruka told the class that Friday afternoon, the tone of finality in his voice was like a death sentence. "Something you might be called to do on missions, is to pretend to be writers. Of poetry, or fiction, or nonfiction, it doesn't matter in the end. You'll need to learn how to write something convincing and enthralling enough to trick a mark into thinking you're nothing more than the common artist."

A chorus of groaning filled the room.

"You will all then present them aloud to the class for us to judge as one body. The overall consensus will be your grade, remember that."

Even louder groaning than before.

Yuuki raised her hand. "Sensei, what if some of us won't have anything to write about because we don't have the means that others would in this kind of situation?" As in she was an orphan and poor...ish. And she wasn't the only person of such status in their class now. Kids weren't allowed to go anywhere meant for entertainment purposes without legal guardians if they weren't already shinobi, and it wasn't like Rin was going to be taken away from her duties at the orphanage for flights of fancy that aren't worth spending money on when you need to save it for more important things.

The Chunin shook his head. "You will _all_ have to write something truthful, Yuuki-chan, or you don't get any credit. In this specific exercise it _has_ to be a true story." Meaning there would be others with fictional stories required. Great.

There were no festivals scheduled. She couldn't leave the village without a guardian. No reports to do for class. Nothing but training really. And sleeping. And eating. And she couldn't make that sound interesting no matter how good with words she was.

Fuck.

* * *

It hit her over the head on the first day of break and she cackled in her bathroom as she realized she'd get her period some time over the vacation and she could write about it in gorey detail as punishment. Next time he'd think twice before making such unfair expectations. He could have at least changed the details of the assignment so he'd brought this on them all! Yuuki had no shame over natural bodily functions. There were more important things to concern herself over.

Of course a day later she _wasn't_ cackling anymore. There was a sharp pain on her right side, lower than where the appendix was located. The pain was centered more in the ovarian area and it had woken her up from a restless sleep in the early morning hours on her second day of break. Putting pressure on it did not lessen the pain like it would if they were period cramps, which let her know that this was something different and possibly something to be very concerned over.

Seconds later she was rushing to the bathroom to empty her stomach into the toilet. Her barely digested food from dinner the previous night wasn't something she wanted to see again. The taste was disgusting and the force of the vomiting left her shaking and her back hurting from having to hunch over for so long.

What the fuck? She didn't get colds in the middle of the year. It was usually toward the end. And colds didn't come with ovarian pains. That'd be weird.

Yuuki laid on the bathroom floor, face down and hoping the cool tiles would help make everything better. If it was something like a flu, then that should help. It usually did the job for some reason.

But this time it didn't!

She sat up to quickly hang her head over the bowl to vomit again. Distantly she was grateful that she was such a clean freak and had a weekly cleaning day because it meant that the entire apartment was spotless and the toilet was clean so touching it was less gross than it would be if it was any other toilet. She hated public bathrooms with the burning passion of a thousand suns and avoided them at all costs because of their lack of cleanliness. That's why she only used the one in the teacher's lounge at school when she was on the rag.

By the fourth time she hovered over the '_throne_', she'd ended up just dry heaving nonstop, and finally admitted to herself that maybe there was something more wrong than a normal sickness. The pain hadn't stopped. It had gotten worse. Her body was shaking everywhere and standing hurt so much that she wanted to remain on the ground! Being upright made the pain stretch out in a sense. Like a rubber band being stretched beyond its limits.

Her face was wet. From crying. She was actually crying. It had been years since she'd last cried because there hadn't ever been a reason to.

Okay. She needed to go to the hospital. To get any actual help she needed her guardian to be there. Which meant Rin had to come along. The orphanage was on the other side of the village from where she currently lived. She wasn't walking that far. She wouldn't be able to make it while being upright.

A bright grin set in a tanned face came to mind then.

Naruto. He lived two floors up. And he was perfectly able in body and could make solid clones. He was her best chance since she didn't really know any of their other neighbors personally and wouldn't want them touching her anyway.

Yuuki crawled to the bedroom where she pulled out her stash of emergency money from under her mattress. There was over four hundred thousand Ryo save up in all bills. If there was a hospital bill, as there surely would be for someone with no health insurance, she'd be able to handle it herself. The wallet was shoved into her bra as she wasn't up for trying to stand just to reach her sweatshirt on the rack by the door.

Crawling up the stairs to Naruto apartment was extra difficult with all the shaking and the sharp pains. If only standing didn't make the pain worse. What did she do to deserve this shit?

She pounded on the door of the topmost apartment and sighed in relief when it opened to reveal Naruto in some weird ass pajamas and a nightcap that looked like it was eating his head.

"_Yuukiiiiiii_, it's so early," the boy whined, rubbing at his eyes. The sun hadn't even come up yet so it was pretty damn early indeed.

"Sorry!" she gasped, curling in on herself in a pathetic attempt to relieve the pain. It obviously didn't work. "I need help and you're the only person I can reach right now."

He came alive instantly, face losing its tired expression and worry taking over and he looked her up and down. "What's wrong?"

"I need to go to the hospital." She took as deep a breath as she could without causing herself more pain. "But I need my guardian to be there to approve of whatever they have to do. Can you bring me to the orphanage to get Rin and then bring me to the hospital?"

Naruto dashed off, yelling, "Let me get dressed!"

He was back seconds later, fastening his kill-me-orange trousers. He hadn't even put the rest of his jumpsuit on and simply slipped on a black undershirt.

She was scooped up with surprising gentleness and then they were off, bounding over the rooftops with expedience. Each small jostle hurt but as she was getting help and would get treatment faster, it was worth it.

"So what's wrong?" he asked as ran over the rooftops.

"I think it's my ovary which is an important bit in the whole ability to get pregnant thing. I know Rin is the world's biggest bitch to you, but I really need you to go in and get her for me when we arrive. I can only crawl around and it takes forever. I don't have the patience or pain tolerance for that."

"Don't worry, Yuuki. I couldn't not help a friend. How could I ever call myself a leader if I can't even save one friend? -ttebayo!" His rare moment of profound insight made her tear up a bit. The kid had a way with words when it mattered. The sudden profoundness coming out of his mouth was almost inspiring in a way.

Rin was added to their group minutes later, looking at Naruto with distrust, but too caught up in her worry over Yuuki to care enough about being an ass to him. Enough to climb onto his perfected Kage Bunshin's back so they'd get to the hospital faster. "And you're certain it's an ovarian issue?" she asked along the way.

"Yeah. It's in that area and the only thing that makes sense considering my health is good."

It was five hours, three cups of medicated water, and one ultrasound later, that they finally got the answers they needed, and Naruto had remained by her side the entire time, refusing to leave her behind until she was either cleared to go home or to stay overnight. It was very sweet of him. Especially since she'd woken him up so suddenly and he looked dead on his feet.

"You have two cysts in your right ovary," the doctor said firmly. She was a member of the Yamanaka clan according to her name tag and looked a lot like Ino from their class. She also didn't give Naruto a dirty look when she saw him, which made Yuuki more receptive to her presence. "Both are at least 6 cm in diameter but one seems to be over 8 cm. I'm going to prescribe you some medication that will hopefully solve the problem, but if you come back in two weeks and they have not shrunk at all, we'll have to surgically remove them.

"Also, you said your cycle is due this coming week and it will most likely be more painful than usual with irregular symptoms. If you see more blood, the cysts are the cause. If you see far too much, come back immediately and we'll see what we can do about it."

Great.

"Will she need to be monitored?" asked Rin.

"Preferably."

"I can do it!" volunteered Naruto, looking awake again. "We live in the same complex and sometimes she makes me dinner and we go train, so I can pay Yuuki back this way! -ttebayo!"

While Rin seemed unsure, the doctor nodded and smiled at him. "You'll have to go to the pharmacy downstairs. You don't have health insurance so either you pay out of pocket, strike up a deal that usually involves menial labor in return for medication, or take out a loan with hospital."

Yuuki dug around in her bra and flashed her wallet which was packed full of cash. "I've been saving up since I started living on my own. I can afford it. At least this time."

The prescription was written out along with a paper with explicit directions. The woman then gave Naruto a very detailed explanation on what to expect and why panicking wouldn't help anyone should things go south. Yuuki would essentially be bedridden for the entire time and would have to rely on him completely.

With this event, Yuuki decided that Naruto was her new ride or die. If he needed help she would do her damndest to help him out. He didn't have to agree to all of this but his determination and consideration were incredible. Uzumaki Naruto had earned her devotion and nothing was ever going to take it away.

* * *

"You know, you can leave some Kage Bunshin with me and the real you can go train," Yuuki suggested a few days after the hospital visit. "They're basically you anyway so while they help me cook and clean and do your assignments for you, the real you is out getting exercise and training."

Naruto gaped at her, realizing just how useful the Kage Bunshin could be to him! He could make them clean his apartment while he was gone! The Kage Bunshin really _was_ cooler than just the Bunshin!

"Are you sure?" he asked, worried about leaving her by herself.

"Yeah. The pain meds are really helping me out right now and I want to help you do your paper. The clone can do it for you since it'll have all of your knowledge up until its creation."

That made sense. Yuuki was always making sense.

It was also a relief that she'd help him with his homework. He'd never been the best at it and he hated writing.

And that was how he ended up in one of the training grounds, practicing his kata against a log covered in rope. The goal was basically to strike hard enough and with good enough precision, that he could snap the rope itself. That'd be pretty badass.

Hours into his workout routine, Naruto froze in place as a very distinct memory popped into his mind despite how he was certain he hadn't ever had such a memory.

It was of him and Yuuki sitting at her kitchen table doing his paper, and another him was at the sink doing dishes, while another was going through the fridge. He said something rude to one of the clones, who glared and slapped him hard upside the head. And then all he saw was smoke and found himself in the training ground with the ghost sensation of being hit on the head, tingling in the aftermath.

Weird.

Upon returning to Yuuki's a few hours later, he was still rubbing his head.

"Did you hit your head?" she asked the moment he stepped in the door.

"Nah. I just feel like one of my clones slapped me and while the memory was clear I don't actually remember it happening to me."

"Like you're experiencing whatever your clones experience?" She asked, looking interested.

"Maybe?"

"You know what this means, right? We must experiment! Think of all the energy we could save this way! Think of all the work we wouldn't have to do personally! Think of all the sleep we could catch up on!"

Of course that would be the first thing she thought of.

* * *

Iruka gestured for Yuuki to come up and present her paper. The wide grin on her face made him uncomfortable though and he could feel a cold pit brew in his stomach. She was up to something and the grin she shared with Naruto meant bad things.

Her paper was dark red unlike everyone else's, and left ominous, red ink stains on her hands. It almost looked like, blood, though it smelled like permanent marker.

"Over the course of the summer break I found myself in excruciating pain unlike any I've ever felt before. Such pain induced projectile vomiting of my undigested dinner, left me debilitated, and made it impossible for me to stand. As such, Naruto had to rush me to the hospital where a doctor informed me that I had two cysts in my right ovary. A cyst, for those unaware, is a sac-like structure that is filled with fluid, which is usually pus in these scenarios. They can swell to various sizes, and the two inside my ovary were each bigger than an Akimichi Big Ball Soldier Pill.

"To give you perspective, the ovary is only the size of an Akimichi Small Ball Soldier Pill and lacks natural elasticity."

Her demented grin never faded as she spoke, and the entire class shifted in disgust at the details. Iruka ran a hand over his face in regret, knowing that she was putting more effort than normal into this, to get back at him for the parameters of this assignment.

"I was prescribed medication and warned that if the cysts did not shrink I would be going under the knife by the end of the month. Thankfully, they seemed to have gone down somewhat and I am hoping surgery will not be necessary."

Very clear and precise and to the point.

And just when he thought it was over… _it wasn't_.

"Having cysts on the ovaries while menstruating is not something I would wish on anyone," the girl went on to explain, her smug grin still in place. "I found myself bleeding even more than usual because of the irregularity of the hormones involved and the medication I was on. For those unaware of what menstruation is like **[…]** where the uterine lining sheds once a month** […]** often times leading to big, gelatinous clots **[…]** with cramping in order to push out **[...]** all so that the dead remains don't rot inside our bodies **[...]** so I ended up going through three packs of pads **[...]** never seen that much blood in my life, and **[...]** explaining the smell is difficult but think of **[...]** and every time I stood up I could feel the rush as it was coming out and wanted to **[...]** but overall it was a pretty eventful vacation despite my worries before it began."

By the time she had finished, the entire room had gone deathly silent. Many of the boys were holding hands to their mouths in attempts to not vomit, and all of the girls looked mortified at the in depth description of the menstruation process from one of their own.

Yuuki smirked and placed her stained paper on Iruka's desk. "Let this be a lesson that not everyone is so privileged to be able to just go out and do things that they can write about."

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING **and descriptions of **HEALTH ISSUES.**

* * *

"This will hopefully be your last visit," said her Yamanaka doctor when she came in that afternoon. "We're just going to double check everything to make certain that the cysts are indeed gone. Furthermore we have taken note of a hormonal imbalance you have that essentially guarantees you'll always have difficult menstrual issues."

"What does that even _mean_?" asked Yuuki, confused over what an imbalance of the hormones could do.

"Basically there is too much of the male hormone in your body and it has thrown some things out of balance. You noted an excessive gain of weight recently despite being as healthy as you can be in your situation. You are also often tired with no reason to be. Your body hair grows abnormally fast and is far more coarse than it should be for someone bearing your chromosomes type, finally, you developed ovarian cysts very young. It all points to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. You'll have to be prescribed medication to combat this on the regular but you have no health insurance and the prices aren't exactly cheap."

No she did not and no they were not. How the hell was she going to handle that?

Yuuki hummed. "I could technically get health insurance now, but the best kind is only available to shinobi and I was waiting for that. Shinobi are legal adults and their health insurance is the best that you can possibly get because their lives are so filled with danger. Can I hold off on any of this until April of next year when I can actually _not_ spend all of my savings?"

The woman didn't look pleased by the suggestion, but she eventually nodded. "If you experience the same symptoms you'll have to come back though. I'll give you a pamphlet on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome so you can learn about it. Unfortunately causes for such have remained untraceable still."

"It's fine. At least I know now. Am I gonna be bleeding more from now on?"

"Yes. And have more cramps and possibly more cysts."

Great.

Oddly though, she felt as if she already knew what Polycystic Ovary Syndrome was. But she'd never had it before or knew anyone that did, so how?

"Sometimes birth control can help in placed of prescription medication," the Yamanaka said calmly. "If you're interested in testing this out, as it's a cheaper option, just let me know."

* * *

It was like the moment everyone had finally grasped and accepted that Yuuki was a girl, she became Public Enemy #1 to all the fangirls. Even after four years of her showing absolutely no interest in Broody or even in getting to know him, their heads were so far up their own asses that they immediately saw her as a threat to their weird fantasies.

Literally, it made no sense! She'd confessed to Shikamaru! Her interests had been displayed openly! Everyone should know by now that Yuuki preferred those of a higher intellect.

Shikamaru sighed and slouched in his seat. He gave her a look absolutely saturated with his opinion on how troublesome the situation was. "It's not just possibly liking Sasuke, though their brains apparently can't grasp someone _not_ liking him. It's the fact that you're more developed than all of them and their insecurities about body types and beauty make them act out in jealousy the moment they feel threatened."

"What. The. Fuck?" Did they pick up nothing from the Health Class in Mission Prep? Shinobi, with their lifestyles, shouldn't be so obsessed with weight and shit of that nature. They couldn't afford to be if they weren't a part of a clan who had to maintain a certain weight to make use of their Hiden techniques.

The boy rolled his shoulders to loosen them up and shifted around a bit so he could stare at her more easily. "Everyone knows you're a girl now, but you don't do typical girl things. You don't grow your hair out, don't wear makeup, don't do your nails, your voice isn't very feminine at all, and yet somehow your body is the most feminine out of all of them according to their tiny brains. The jealousy comes from thinking it isn't fair that a girl who apparently doesn't care that she's a girl and does no work to take care of herself like girls should in their minds, doesn't deserve to be so… well endowed. According to Ino's ramblings that is."

Yuuki snorted hard enough to hurt her throat. That was such bullshit! "Not so well endowed if no one noticed anything before this year. I grew into the sweatshirt as planned which is why I never bought another since it would be a waste of money. It's more obvious than ever before that I've got breasts and yet no one noticed anyway. This imaginary competition is stupid."

He grunted in agreement, face turning a bit pink at her blasé words.

"Also I kept my hair short for two reasons up until now. **1.)** I am poor and short hair means less product will be used and means the product will last longer so I spend less money monthly.** 2.)** Washing long hair takes a lot of time and energy that I could use to sleep. However since we're going to be Genin in a few months, it'll stay short because it's stupid for green Genin to have long hair. If someone grabs it, you can't get away. Only shinobi who won't have their long hair be a liability, subtly brag about their strength by keeping it long."

"I'm just telling you what they think like," the boy said. "I never said it made any sense."

"And this is why Hinata is obviously the superior girl in this class."

Choji nodded along, and extended his bag of chips to her in offering.

"No, thanks. I'm not much into BBQ but the offer is sweet anyway."

Said offer gained her an intense look from Shikamaru. She may or may not have flushed under his attention.

She couldn't be blamed! He had such pretty eyes and it wasn't fair!

The rest of the school day was normal. As normal as a school day could be with a bunch of girls glaring at you.

* * *

"What the heck is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?" Naruto asked as he stared at her pamphlets.

It had been over a month since the hospital visit of doom and while the good news of her cysts fucking off had been a relief, Yuuki had learned that she was basically stuck with the issue until she went through menopause. Because she had something called polycystic ovary syndrome that was caused in her case, by a 'hormonal imbalance', resulting in her having too many 'male hormones' in her body.

Naruto had to get a full on description of menopause to understand. It had been embarrassing. There were descriptions and weird diagrams used. He hated it.

The negatives of having this syndrome thing were numerous and there was no true way of stopping it for good. There was just medication and painkillers. And she couldn't get them because she couldn't afford to spend her savings yet.

"I have a life of that problem ahead of me," she explained to the blond in basic terms, which he appreciated. "Now they might never get as extensive ever again, but I'm guaranteed to have more cysts. _Poly_ means _many_ so there will likely be several at a single ovulating time, every month, for the rest of my fertilization."

"That sucks!" While Naruto was super glad he didn't have to go through it, it wasn't fair that _anyone_ had to.

"Yeah."

"And there's nothing that can stop it for good?"

"Well," she considered quietly, "I could always get those bits removed entirely."

His face went white as a sheet. They could do that? And it wouldn't… kill her or anything?

"I haven't decided if I want to have kids of my own or not yet, so that decision will remain on the table for now. Of course adoption is still an option. But neither are feasible options until I'm capable of supporting a good home and all that it entails. People who go around having kids when they can't afford to take care of them, bug the shit outta me. It's the most irresponsible thing someone can do."

He couldn't help but agree. Those people lacked the foresight necessary when it came to making such life-changing decisions. If you can't even care for a pet that is mostly able to look after its own needs, what makes you think another human being who is solely dependent upon you for the first couple years of their life, is going to be any easier?

Adults made no sense half of the time. Naruto was certain that he was smarter than many of the people in the village just because of his common sense. There were so many homeless kids walking around the Hana District because their birth parents went ahead with the pregnancy they weren't ready for.

"Wanna go train?" Naruto asked, bouncing up and down and wanting to get away from the heavy topic. "I got a bunch of ideas on how to use the Kage Bunshin in a fight but I'm trying to keep it a secret until graduation. I wanna shock Iruka-sensei's pants off when I finally make a Bunshin of some sort that doesn't suck!"

"Those things can be used for everything. You could Henge them into other people and Kawarimi with them mid-battle. You can Henge them into weapons and then use those weapons as surprise attacks. I think if you heat the chakra in them up they'll explode too."

"Cool!" She had so many good ideas and Naruto was going to make use of them all!

Yuuki grabbed her wallet, which made him a bit giddy as training days usually lead to Ichiraku. Yes, knowing Naruto this long meant she didn't get away with never eating ramen. He had put her through the initiation as quickly as possible. And she had admitted that it was good, but not something she'd spend money on religiously or anything. Still, liking it was enough for him.

"Get a bottle from the cupboard and fill it with some tap water. I am not drinking from a river when I don't know what's been in it and when I don't have a pot to boil any of the water in."

He went to do so.

"Should I start carrying around cookware when I graduate?" Yuuki asked. "It could be sealed into a scroll and pulled out for convenience at any time."

"I don't see why not."

* * *

Class went on as usual. Naruto saw great changes over the past few months alone. Using the Kage Bunshin in training helped him improve his Taijutsu and as such, his results were a lot better too.

In the past, Naruto had relied heavily upon his physical strength and stamina getting him through. It was less about technique and more about overwhelming his opponent as quickly as possible in order to obtain his victory. But now, with his proper teachings in mind and his Kage Bunshin sparring every day in multiple groups of two, he was able to use less energy to win!

He could anticipate incoming attacks and actually work out how to handle them. Dodge or Parry was now something his mind went through instinctively.

And what was even better was the fact that he'd been paying even more attention to how his classmates fought during class and had gathered enough information to order his Kage Bunshin to pretend they are certain people when sparring to mimic their styles.

Hinata's Juken was the hardest to imitate, but for the most part he'd gotten it down. He wasn't looking to shut down tenketsu, he just wanted to acquire some precision. Yuuki once described it as being a '_jack of all trades_' or something like that.

Basically, someone who was good in many different Taijutsu forms, stood the chance of being better prepared than someone who only perfected one Taijutsu form. This applied to various vocations. Like having skills in carpentry, smithing, and glasswork made someone more useful in the long run, than a person who only knew one of those trades.

The one with more skills would most likely receive more clients which would mean more money earned.

If Naruto was at least average in the application of various Taijutsu styles, then any time he encountered someone who used only one style and was possibly only exposed to that style, he'd have an easier time handling them.

He felt smart for thinking of it himself! Yuuki even told him it was a good idea back when he proposed the idea to her.

After Taijutsu was just normal class time and today, everyone had decided to take lunch inside rather than outside for some reasons. The room was loud with everyone separating into their own groups and talking among themselves. It was… nice.

Naruto had planted himself on top of Yuuki's desk, disrupting Shikamaru and Choji's lunches in the process, though both didn't seem to mind all that much beyond some light grumbling. Yuuki was shoveling rice into her mouth at an abnormal speed because she was obsessed.

Yuuki then brought up the power of observation unaffected by bias and how important it was not to let personal opinion affect the transferal of information. She then insisted that Shikamaru was the most adept at it. The boy didn't disagree, which Naruto found interesting. She then settled her attention on Choji and asked, "Who are the best Taijutsu users in this class?"

"Sasuke and Hinata," the Akimichi answered immediately. "In that order."

"Then who?"

"Shino and Ino."

"Then who?"

"You and then Naruto."

"Exactly. These are simple facts and not letting preference for certain people or romantic attachments cloud your vision, is most important. Naruto!"

He snapped to attention, feeling a bit nervous being put on the spot so abruptly.

"Who are the prettiest people in our class?"

"Sakura," was his first answer, simply because he still had a crush on her and really liked her hair and eye colors. And then as he gave it more thought and added, "Ino and Hinata." Of course when he passed his gaze over the room to assess everyone, his eyes alighted upon a familiar, brooding individual. He couldn't hold back a huff of annoyance. "Sasuke," he admitted reluctantly since the Uchiha was a teme. But a pretty teme though. "Shikamaru and Shino. And... yeah, that's it."

"Yep!" agreed Yuuki with a smirk. "Personal bias should not come into play when recounting simple facts or doing your job. For example, when thinking of the smartest of the girls, I know it's Sakura. Even if I can't stand her as a person, it's obvious. Lying won't make it any less true and won't make me feel any better when I know the truth already. Just accept the things you cannot change and move on with life."

Shikamaru hadn't looked away from Naruto since he'd spoken. Once Yuuki went quiet, the brunet said, "_Pretty_? Really?"

Naruto shrugged. "You have- a nice face. Yeah. Good skin too." He felt so awkward! But he could see why Yuuki liked his face at least! Shikamaru had this intense thing about him.

Yuuki nodded insistently. "It's true," she confirmed. "Pretty, handsome, beautiful, hot, whatever word people choose to use. They all mean the same thing basically. Besides, it wasn't too long ago where pretty and beautiful were used to describe men and handsome was used for women. Words are words and instead of being hung up on supposed gender implications, just be grateful someone finds you attractive."

"Really?" asked Choji looking as confused as Naruto felt. "How long ago were women called handsome?"

"Less than a century," the girl answered.

And for the shinobi world, that really wasn't a lot of time. Naruto wondered why that had changed in the first place. He'd never heard of it but he never doubted Yuuki because she always ended up being right.

Also, Naruto wasn't oblivious to Shikamaru's weird staring at Yuuki for the rest of lunch. Yuuki never noticed.

* * *

Hiruzen found himself in a quandary. With the addition of Yuuki to Naruto's graduating class, she'd thrown the potential graduates out of balance in a sense.

The teams with a surety of passing into the care of Jonin instructors had already been decided for quite some time. Ino-Shika-Cho would be repeated one again because their families worked best together. The Aburame and Hyuga heirs were paired with the Inuzuka heir-apparent because they made the best tracker team. Haruno Sakura maintained top position out of the girls because of grades on theoretical work. Uchiha Sasuke was top overall in everything, and Naruto, while no longer being the dead last, had to be on Kakashi's team, so the usual Top/Top/Dead Last grouping didn't really fit in this case. They were even upping the amount of teams allowed to pass each cycle to five instead of three, but Yuuki would be wasted on a team of any others she didn't get along with or know well enough.

This left Yuuki, who was too talented to leave in the Academy or to leave to her laziness in the Genin Corps wither. Her chakra control and quick grasp of specific topics could be useful in the medical field and being in the Genin Corps would only hinder her advancement as there would be no reason to advance and no challenge for her. She had the skills for something greater and it'd be a shame for them to be wasted.

But who could offer an Apprenticeship? There were few medics in the village who had the time or capability to take on a student of their own. Teaching took a lot more than simply throwing information at someone and telling them to read.

And just then, and idea popped into mind. He'd been brainstorming ways to get his former student Tsunade to come back to the village, but there were obvious flaws in every single thing he dreamt up so far. However, with this new idea, it might just be enough to get her to come back on her own. In a way.

He took out an unused scroll and grabbed the nearest brush. The message was written convincingly and with enough praise to flatter the recipient into giving his request consideration. If he was lucky, this could all work out in the end and he'd still get his replacement when it came time to officially retire again. He tied it with a special ribbon.

"Buta!" he called, smiling when the Anbu appeared before his desk. "You're going on an A-Rank mission to find Tsunade-hime and hand her Apprentice this missive. Do so before the Academy's next graduation, no matter what it takes."

The scroll was passed along and then the Anbu member was gone.

Hiruzen smiled to himself. Just because Tsunade refused to come back to the village didn't mean Shizune wouldn't. And where Shizune went, Tsunade was sure to follow even if she had grumble and throw a temper tantrum while doing so.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING **and **GAI** and **LEE.**

**152 cm** = **4 ft 11 in. **I was 5'6" by the time I turned 13 & remember  
towering over everyone, so I decided to remove at least 1/2 a foot for  
Yuuki.

**50,000 Ryo** = about **$4,600.**

* * *

"I DID IT!" Naruto screamed, holding up his hand to show his leaf that was currently cut into four equal pieces. It was one of those super thick ones from the special trees that Shodaime Hokage had planted, to make it harder in training.

The man in charge of their Chakra Natures class, Usui-sensei, sent him an encouraging smile from across the yard and said, "Well done! Now try and cut the next into eight even pieces."

The blond nodded and yanked another leaf off one of the trees. Not too far away, Sasuke was controlling a bunch of lit candles. He was the most advanced in the class when it came to these exercises 'cause he already knew elemental ninjutsu, so he had the hardest work to do, which was to regulate five candles at once, and all flames had to be different sizes. He wasn't allowed to touch the candles either.

Yuuki was a step below him and was supposed to filter out the heat from an incredibly hot piece of coal to stop it from burning or catching fire. It was harder than it looked, she'd told him.

The bulk of the class were trying to burn a leaf with their chakra still.

As Naruto was one of the few students who didn't have Katon Chakra - as it was the most prevalent in all of Hi no Kuni - he had the most unique exercises to do and loved it!

After this he'd move on to the most difficult of the exercises for his Chakra Nature, which was apparently to cut a waterfall in half. Thankfully, Konoha had many of those and he had Kage on his side! He'd get it done in no time and then he'd catch up to Sasuke and show him that he wasn't the best in class!

Nothing would stop him on his way to becoming Hokage! He'd slay these weird exercises and then he'd learn all the coolest Futon Jutsu out there and be unstoppable!

He hoped there was one that would let him fly. It would be the coolest thing ever! He'd never heard of flying shinobi before and being the first would be awesome! **Naruto, the Flying Hokage** had a nice ring to it.

* * *

"Hokage-sama, we've noted an abnormal amount of activity between Suna and Oto!"

The old man set his pipe aside the moment one of his Anbu teams appeared in his office. He could already feel that his day was going to go downhill from this and got in one last good drag before giving them his full attention. "Abnormal how?"

"Oto dignitaries keep visiting Suna frequently. Our mole confirmed they've taken a special interest in helping to train the Suna shinobi in specific drills in homemade courses that resemble Konoha's landscape."

Alarm shot through him in an instant and he rifled through his desk to find the papers about the upcoming Chunin Exam Konoha was hosting. In them, he found Oto's intention of sending one team along, and Suna, while sending many, was sending the Kazekage's children's team. The Kazekage was set to attend the the Third Chunin Exam as well.

The village run by Orochimaru, Hiruzen's erstwhile student, was taking a special interest in the development of Suna shinobi? And coaching them through trials of Konoha's landscape?

It didn't sound trustworthy to him. Especially since Suna's side of the treaty was very shaky these past few years. He wasn't oblivious to their council's lacking opinion on Konoha as a people.

"Get me Nara Shikaku, Neko. The rest of you collect the rest of the Anbu stationed in the village and bring them here."

They could possibly be about to face a thunderstorm and Konoha wasn't going down without a fight.

* * *

"Oh for fuck sake!" Tsunade swore the moment she caught sight of the masked figure. It was a Konoha Anbu wearing the pig mask. And it was most definitely one of Konoha's Anbu as they knew the chakra pulse necessary when greeting Tsunade. It was just a little extra protection for both Tsunade and the Konoha forces. So she didn't punch an ally_(and she used that term very loosely)_ and cause the village more problems by lowering their list of active operatives.

While she wasn't on the active roster any longer, she was still a shinobi of Konoha in title at least. She couldn't attack them for just approaching her. That didn't mean she couldn't run and lead them on a merry chase all over Hi no Kuni until they finally gave up. It was a tried and true formula and hadn't failed her thus far.

Shizune, holding TonTon, their pet piglet, looked between her mentor and the masked shinobi in concern. She knew that rousing Tsunade's ire wasn't a smart idea for anyone involved. It was a quick way to end up with a caved in rib cage. Or a destroyed building.

"What do you want?" the blonde woman demanded hotly, glaring over the rim of her sake bottle.

"Apologies, Tsunade-hime, but it's not for you," said Buta, holding out a scroll to Shizune. The scroll bore a red string, meaning it was of A-Rank classification and Tsunade couldn't read it without Shizune's explicitly given permission. Her interest was caught of course, but not enough to be worried.

TonTon was set on the table so Shizune could read through whatever the Sandaime had sent. Her eyes became wide after a few minutes and looked to the Anbu. "Is he absolutely serious?"

"I do not know the contents of the scroll but Hokage-sama was very serious when assigning this mission and urged me to find you before the upcoming Genin Exam, Shizune-san," explained the Anbu.

And that was when Tsunade's attention focused sharply, the sake bottle being set aside so she could give Shizune all of her attention. "What is it?" she demanded. What could be so important that Genin were involved?

Wordlessly, her Apprentice handed over the scroll, eyes still wide but distantly lost in thought.

To Jonin, Kato Shizune of Konohagakure no Sato,

Any information therein is confidential and should it be shared, may only pass to  
Senju Tsunade's eyes. Please burn this scroll when you no longer have use of it.

It's with great reverence that the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hirzuen, wishes to  
employ your expertise in a very sensitive matter. The graduation class in April is  
going to have an uneven number of students who must have a Jonin instructor.  
The odd one out, one Yuuki, a clanless orphan, shows too much promise to just  
be relegated to the Genin Corp where she'd be lost in the shuffle and lack many  
chances of rising in rank.

Yuuki transferred from the civilian school into the Shinobi Academy when she was  
almost nine, joining the Second Year class with ease and acclimating to her new  
life over a long period of time. This occurred after a confrontation with her school  
bully left him with a broken jaw from a single, chakra-filled punch by Yuuki. From  
personal observation she had located her own chakra and had been using it often  
for a couple years in keeping her body temperature high enough to stay warm at  
all times in an orphanage that lacked proper heating.

Her grasp of chakra control exercises is only equaled by her Hyuga and Uchiha  
classmates.

Further issues arose in the fact that one Shimura Danzo has shown an interest  
in the child's development. Not too long after her transfer, Yuuki brought some  
concerns to her Academy instructor about another instructor's attitude toward  
some of the students. An investigation revealed the Chunin in question to have  
a treasonous connection to both Orochimaru and Danzo, passing information off  
to each. Orochimaru received intel on clan children and Danzo received intel on  
orphans who showed promise. Those would eventually drop out of school thanks  
to the Chunin's interference and then disappear. It was discovered that Danzo  
had taken them on their way home for his own purposes.

Yuuki was actually in his sights at the orphanage and only managed to barely  
escape him during her transfer. With his mole from the Academy in prison, and  
his rights and status being officially stripped from him, he's had a difficult time  
trying to get her alone as he cannot leave his Clan Compound ever again. No  
one believes that he has no remaining agency in the world though. If she does  
end up in the Genin Corps, it'll be easier for him to get his hands on her if she  
is left alone. The Sandaime would prefer that she be taught by somebody that  
he considers to be trustworthy, in the ways of Iryo Ninjutsu.

Yuuki displays some lazy tendencies but will still work without complaint in the  
end. Her biggest vice is sleeping and biggest motivation is food. She is fond of  
reading and learning new information in her free time, plus can grasp difficult  
concepts faster than most Chunin could. She is very blunt and shameless.

The Hokage requests that you to take on the training of this future Genin with  
hope that you'll teach her your exceptional skills and instill within her a moral  
compass.

The Hokage wishes to alert you to the existence of the **Kato Foundation** \- a  
non-profit organization which was founded one month after Yuuki transferred  
into her Second Year - which is dedicated to teaching Iryo Ninjutsu classes at  
the hospital while supplying obligatory, basic medical courses at the Academy  
so the students will be better prepared to help their fellow shinobi once they  
graduate. Other classes have been installed in the curriculum since then and  
your opinion on the direction of these matters would also greatly help those  
in Administration.

Furthermore, you'll obtain your Iryo Ninjutsu Mastery and receive an A-Rank  
payment every month until Yuuki attains Jonin status and can't be recruited  
into Danzo's Ne. The organization was disbanded twice, but we shall remain  
alert. Danzo has proven to be untrustworthy so we can't take any chances.

_With much respect,_  
_Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato._

The entire letter had been very compelling, but it was the reveal of the Kato Foundation that hit her the hardest. Shizune barely knew Dan before he died. As he'd been Tsunade's husband-to-be, she had taken the girl on when her parents died in the last war. She was basically Tsunade's niece-in-law after all.

It was obvious the foundation did mean something to the younger woman, but it was especially momentous to Tsuande. She knew what her sensei was playing at, and he was playing it very well. But she also knew that this was genuine and not just done to lure her back.

Whatever that Yuuki girl had exposed, ended up getting an important ball rolling. And it got Tsunade's sensei off his old ass and got him thinking and working to try and fix so many of his own mistakes. She was certain if she looked at the Academy's current curriculum, there would be even more changes than the usual, non-wartime schedule. And that was a good thing no matter personal feelings about leadership and the life of a shinobi.

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

She tossed the letter back to her Apprentice and straightened in her seat. Things had just drastically changed. No, she was not happy with Konoha or the shinobi way of life, or the Hi no Ishi and how so many fell in battle with its words in their minds. But still… mandatory medical training for Academy students which would prepare them more easily for additional training in anything, especially at the hospital.

More medical professionals in the village at all times. Less death of children in future teams. Less families torn apart by loss this way.

"If you choose to go back, I'll follow. But only to see to it that these classes are appropriate and truly teaching something useful. Don't expect me to teach some gaki or anything. You can have the kid to yourself."

* * *

It was all a big mistake. The one day she decided to go and get in some personal training ended up being the day where she ran into… _them_.

It was a Genin team. With a very unique sensei to say the least.

Yuuki never wanted to see the color green ever again.

She thought Naruto's obsession with orange had been terrible but at least his outfit was a jumpsuit and he wore a black shirt underneath. This was green spandex and it clung to the body unforgivingly.

At least the man was brave enough to wear something like that without fear of judgment. Because there sure as hell was a lot of judgment. No way in hell there wasn't.

"Yosh! We have come upon another adamantly fanning their flames of youth!"

Just when she thought it was bad enough, a mini version of the Jonin in question, appeared next to him. So. Much. Spandex. So. Much. Noise. So. Many. Questions. In. Her. Mind!

"GAI-SENSEI, IF I CANNOT DENT MY STUMP IN A SINGLE HIT I WILL DO ONE THOUSAND PUSH UPS!" the mini said, tears streaming down his face, hand against his head in a sharp salute and flattening his bowl cut.

"LEE!" the Jonin bellowed.

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

Never had Yuuki wanted to die before but this was the first time she was honestly considering offing herself to escape from this hell. Why did the weird shit always have to happen to her?! Where was Naruto when the freaky shit happened?! He could take anything like a champ!

The two others from this Genin team seemed normal, though by the look of the one who was ridiculously pretty - even more pretty than Shikamaru which was messed up and totally not fair - he was a Hyuga. So that meant milky eyes that lacked any pupils, long hair, and a chip on his shoulder. From the way he stood and the look on his face, a stick was lodged up his ass something fierce and gave him perpetual splinters in the anus. That would keep anyone unhappy.

The kunoichi was the truly normal one. No outstanding characteristics. Just dango for hair and a pink shirt that didn't look like it fit her in the least.

"Are you perhaps an Academy student?" the sensei asked Yuuki once he was done doing weird things with his student. His smile was damn near blinding.

She nodded silently, not sure if she trusted her voice to speak aloud.

"Perhaps you would like to spar one of my most youthful Genin to test the powers of your youth?!"

She really didn't _want_ to but she didn't think she could outrun him. Not with the weights he had on under his orange leg warmers. He was no doubt way faster than a normal Jonin would be thanks to them.

"TenTen, please demonstrate your youthful skills for this young kunoichi-to-be!"

The girl stepped forward, an apologetic look on her face. "First to three injuries wins?" she offered.

"Fine." Get it over with. She would approach this as she did all the matches in the Academy. Except since her opponent was a Genin, using chakra punches on her wouldn't be unfair. So long as she didn't overdo it with the amount of chakra and the force she used to push it out then everything should be fine.

They took their stances and the Jonin raised his hand. "Hajime!"

"Go, TenTen!" screamed the mini.

Immediately, TenTen's go-to action was to throw a kunai, but Yuuki was already coming for her and snatched it out of the air with her free hand while rearing back her right fist for a punch. As her speed was deliberately downplayed, TenTen didn't think there was anything wrong with intercepting her attack by catching her fist. The problem was that she knew nothing about the chakra and the moment fist met open palm, the Genin was thrown back several feet, landing hard and rolling several times.

Immediately, her cheering teammate went quiet in chock, and the Hyuga actually looked interested then. Yuuki wasn't exactly physically imposing or anything as she was of average height for a kid her age_(which was 152 cm)_ in her opinion. Her having that kind of attack power would make anyone pay attention though.

The Jonin remained pensive.

TenTen sat up and rolled her wrist with a wince. It wasn't broken though since she could move it so freely. "You hit really hard. Did I feel chakra in that?"

"Yeah. Not too much though. I didn't want to break anything, but take this as an example to not get hit again because I could break a teen's jaw when I was eight and I've only gotten better control since then."

"First injury!" the Jonin announced.

"Right!" TenTen flipped onto her feet and pulled out a scroll where she released a kusarigama with a deadly looking point at the end of the blade. "I'm not out yet!"

Yuuki had never faced anyone with anything but a kunai or shuriken, and non-shinobi were not allowed to purchase shinobi weapons, and she didn't have any family who could do it for her, so she had nothing on her but the kunai she'd caught.

The sickle side came flying at her head, and she managed to miss it by raising the kunai and allowing the chain to wrap around that instead. Then, with Katon Chakra pooling in her palm, she grabbed the chain with her free hand and forced her chakra down the metal, heating it. The numerous uses of having Katon Chakra were not lost on her.

Immediately, the chakra-conducive metal heated and stretched all the way back to TenTen's hand, burning it and forcing her to let go with a hiss. Her palm was smoking a bit.

"Second injury!" the Jonin announced.

"Dammit!" the kunoichi hissed.

Wanting their match to be finished quickly, Yuuki tossed the weapons away and engaged TenTen in immediate hand-to-hand combat. The two ducked and parried back and forth for several minutes. TenTen was very good but not as good as Hinata even with almost a year of Genin experience on her side. t was obvious that Taijutsu wasn't her area of expertise. Hinata was a fucking beast and was the best girl in their class when it came to Taijutsu. She went toe to toe with Sasuke easily and both rarely came out of their matches looking tired or being winded. And Yuuki had fought and lost horribly to both before and this was nothing like that.

Up until that moment Yuuki had been using the Academy Style of Taijutsu. At the last second, she switched up her stance and opened her fist, landing a solid, open-palm strike to TenTen's middle in a move she'd adopted from watching Hinata's battles at school and then fiddling with to fit her style more.

"Third Injury!" the Jonin called. "This match is over!"

"Damn, you're good," said TenTen with a sigh. She rubbed at the ache in her stomach with a visible wince. "What's your name again? I don't think we asked."

"Yuuki."

"YOUR YOUTH SHINES BRIGHTLY, YOUNG YUUKI-SAN!" the Jonin exclaimed, making her blink and wonder if she could go Deaf from hearing his shout. "SUCH SKILLS! YOUR CHAKRA CONTROL IS VERY FINE TO BE ABLE TO UTILIZE THOSE CHOICES OF MOVES IN BATTLE WITHOUT HESITATION!"

He was a very excitable person.

"Though may I suggest learning how to better guard yourself," the man went on to add, becoming serious instantly. "Your form is decent enough but it's quite obvious without the chakra punches you would have had a much harder time in this fight. Where is your placement in Taijutsu class?"

"Sixth overall," she confessed with a sigh. "Third out of the girls."

"_G-girls_?!" both TenTen and the mini sputtered at once. The Hyuga also had a brief moment of shock showing on his face but it was gone quickly. The sensei didn't seem shocked at all.

"...Do I really look that much like a guy that everyone I meet thinks I'm one?" Yuuki asked, growing tired of this running gag. "I'm wearing short-shorts. How many guys wear short-shorts? My thighs are very much on display right now and I don't know of any pre-teen boys who would dress like this." And she knew dozens upon dozens of pre-teen and teenage boys of all backgrounds and their parents would never let them dress as such because of some weird, preconceived notions on gender conformity.

TenTen flushed. "Sorry. My shock wasn't just that. The girls in my class never put this much effort in and if you're third best out of the girls then I'm curious to see the other two."

"Top girl in Taijutsu is way better because she's at least average in four Taijutsu styles and regularly mixes them to mess with everyone so they don't know which to guard against when sparring. The girl between us simply has better speed than I do so she's more elusive in her fighting style and harder to land a hit on." Chasing Ino around for several minutes could wear you out something fierce.

"It was a good fight still," said TenTen with a smile. "Best challenge I've gotten outside my team in a long time. If you ever need weapons when you graduate, come to my family's shop. I'll make sure you get a 20% discount." TenTen then handed over a card for the best weapons shop in Konoha. "We do special commissions too."

Damn! Maybe this hadn't been hell after all. Yuuki could finally get her hatchets she so longed for!

* * *

Of course she beat a Genin in a Taijutsu match one day and got her ass handed to her by her not-yet-a-kunoichi friend the next day in class.

Hinata, the ever-shifting Taijutsu expert that she was, decided to meld styles for today's spar and her hands had been so hard to keep up with! She'd shift from Juken to Goken faster than the blink of an eye. A fist would turn into a finger jab milliseconds before making contact and Yuuki kept on falling for it and barely managing to dodge. One strike landed right in the left tit for fuck sake!

However, the Hyuga knew mercy as she went straight for the arms after Yuuki stopped mid-battle to rub her throbbing breast. The action had brought a flush to Hinata's cheeks and made some of the other students cackle. Iruka merely gave one of his standard '_of course this is happening_' sighs.

If the arms were disabled, many shinobi would immediately be down for the count and left open to attack from any side. And it wasn't just a few chakra pokes to the forearms, she hit the shoulders too so Yuuki couldn't even raise her arms at all to block from the pain. Having foreign chakra forced into your body suddenly hurt like hell.

Still, the brunette hadn't give up yet and managed to land one good kick to the girl's midsection, sending her skidding across the ring and _almost_ out, but not quite there.

"That was a good hit," the Hyuga heiress complimented with a wince.

"Compared to the dozen you got on me, it's nothing. I'm going to be covered in bruises all afternoon. Can we stop now?"

Iruka sighed. "Not until you're out of the ring, Yuuki. You know the rules."

The rules were stupid. She gave up. She wanted it to be over. That should be it.

"You can't quit in real life fights, Yuuki."

With her nose in the air, Yuuki marched out of the ring, disrupting the chalk-drawn circle in the process to get her point across. if it was the only way to stop then so be it! The class snickered at her dramatic self.

The Chunin rolled his eyes and declared Hinata the winner. As usual. However, Hinata was at her side in seconds, pressing her fingers to the same spots she had in their spar and undoing whatever she'd done to Yuuki's tenketsu. "Sorry," the girl whispered. "I don't want to disrespect you by going easy on you."

"Oh, it's fine! At least I can put our medical training to the test and see if I can get rid of these bruises later. T'was a pleasure getting my ass kicked by you, my lady."

Hinata flushed and rolled her pale eyes.

* * *

He shouldn't be surprised really. As Yuuki had come to him personally to explain that she had a crush on him and might end up staring at him a lot at some point in the future, he should have expected that she would be the first to notice the minute change in his appearance. It didn't even take a minute of her seeing him again either.

"You look really good with piercings," she told him frankly. "The hoops really suit you. I'm kind of jealous. That kind of thing actually works with _your_ appearance. It all feels balanced out now. You're lucky to have a very symmetrical face."

Shikamaru wasn't really sure how to take that. It was a compliment on his appearance, but also sounded a bit like a dig at her own appearance.

"Why don't you get _your_ ears pierced if you like them that much?" Choji suggested around a mouthful of chips.

Yuuki winced. "Eh… there'd be no point. On one hand that's not cheap and my money can be put toward things that are actually important. On the other hand a couple piercings aren't going to make me pretty or whatever. I see no benefit to me in this regard. It isn't necessarily a _need_ in life so what point would there be in getting such work done?"

Shikamaru sighed, not liking the fact that he didn't understand exactly what was going through the girl's head. That was one thing that was similar between her and other girls at least. He had no idea what the hell they were thinking when it came to this kind of thing. "You can do things simply because you enjoy them, you know. Joy is a benefit too. You don't need to do stuff with the need to '_become pretty_' or whatever. You can do it because you want it and don't need any other reason beyond that."

"But is it really a benefit when the cost, which again isn't cheap, is going to haunt me for days as I rearrange my spending habits to compensate for it?" the girl asked with rhetorical finality. "I might even cry with regret hours after the deed is done. I don't like crying. Or spending money."

He didn't really know what to say to that.

"I had to dip into my savings this year 'cause of that hospital visit and the medicine I needed. I don't have insurance and can't apply the best kind until I'm a Genin, so I had to pay out of pocket for everything. And hospital bills are trash. Visitation, the emergency room stay, seeing a doctor, taking up bed space in the emergency room, the ultrasound and materials involved, the pain meds, the prescription for the cysts, and taking up the hospital's time in general all came out to a little over 50,000 Ryo.

"Those exact things were listed in order of most expensive to least expensive on the bill they gave me. The bill ended up blowing 1/7 of my total savings that I need to last through my first year as a Genin since Genin don't get paid shit worth living on and my apartment won't be free the moment I'm a legal adult and no longer getting a stipend from the orphan fund or the recompense from Komatsuzawa's attempts at goading me into suicide."

It had been a lot at once, and though he grasped it all clearly with no trouble, he was still stunned by how quickly she had gotten all of it out. And in one breath too.

Also… he hadn't known not having health insurance made things that bad for people.

And the level of poverty she was at was concerning. And even more concerning, was the fact that she and Naruto got the same stipend amount, but she got more money monthly because her former bully was forced to give her his weekly allowance until she was a legal adult. So if she was just on the cusp of being homeless at any given time if an emergency happened, how the hell was Naruto making ends meet? And how would he manage once he finally graduated?

Shikamaru was very concerned for his friends and their well-being. Why were things like this allowed in the most prosperous of the shinobi nations? Konoha was supposed to be more advanced than everyone else. They were supposed to have better opportunities.

Back onto the topic that sent Yuuki on such a long rant in the first place though… piercings. "When's your birthday?"

"May. Why?"

That had been months ago. He'd never thought to ask for her birthday even though she'd wished him a happy birthday early last week so she wouldn't forget to since she didn't know the actual date of his birth. He felt a little bad about it now. "I'll take you to get whatever you want pierced as a late gift. I'll pay for the piercings, jewelry, and the disinfectant you'll need," he decided.

Yuuki's head tilted a bit as she stared into his soul. Her dark eyes were intense and seemed to sparkle a bit. Slowly, a small but sweet smile spread across her face. An expression he'd never seen from her before as genuine interest took over and her perpetually bored look disappeared.

In that moment, Shikamaru realized that his seatmate was pretty. Not like Ino or Hinata of course but if a genuine smile could turn her whole resting face around, then she _had_ to be pretty and just unassuming all the time.

"Thank you, Shikamaru."

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING **plus **HOMOPHOBIA**, **SLUT-SHAMING,** and **MISOGYNY** from other women**.**

I'm writing Chapter 26 right now.

* * *

"Studs would be the best because there's a smaller chance of them being yanked on and ripped out of my head if I get captured by an enemy somehow," Yuuki said as she looked through the available earrings for piercings. "Practicality is very important for shinobi."

Shikamaru and Choji had taken her to the place they'd gone to when they got their own ears pierced. The Nara Heir had waved her on and slumped into a chair to watch the proceedings. He was very curious to see what he would choose since there were so many options. And she could decide to get something other than her ears pierced.

Yuuki was staring at a selection of studs that had kanji on them. "What do these do?" she asked the worker. "They're made with chakra-conducive metal which means they can't be normal."

Kurosaki, the worker in charge of them for the moment, came alive instantly. "Each bears a kanji for a specific Chakra Nature, with a purpose." He took one from the wall with character for 'fire' on it and twisted the stud until it split into two pieces. "Under the part bearing the kanji is a part bearing Fuin syntax that was carefully painted with chakra ink under a microscope. Activating the seal would allow you to seal a Katon jutsu into the earring to be released any time you decide. It just needs the standard release hand sign, a quick tap into the surface of the kanji, and then it will release the jutsu with a blast. They all can take up to an A-Rank jutsu."

Shikamaru's interest was caught, because that sounded incredibly useful. He blinked himself more awake to pay more attention. "Can you seal incoming attacks into them?" he asked, sitting up in interest.

"Yes!" the worker affirmed. "Of course so far only one earring can hold one jutsu but we're working on expanding that bit. These are not available in any of the other great nations. Our family created this particular adaptation of Fuin."

Impressive. And probably expensive. But Shikamaru knew he wouldn't be learning elemental ninjutsu any time soon, even with the Academy getting the students started on Chakra Nature Shape & Manipulation early. And one could never be too careful. Having something like that on hand would be a blessing in disguise. Sealing a Katon jutsu someone threw at you and then sending it back at them later on could be very useful on missions that go wrong.

He decided he would get some for himself. Turning to Yuuki, he asked, "Do you want any of those? I can see hundreds of applications for something like these. I'm getting doubles for each ear all the way up." It would mean more piercings and more pain, but the benefits outweighed the costs exponentially.

Kurosaki's eyes shined as he internally added up the prices of what would probably be a massive haul for the shop. Piercings, special earrings, and cleaner.

"How much are they?" the troublesome girl asked, looking a bit guilty once she realized price had come into play.

Instead of answering, he pinched her cheek and said, "It's a birthday gift, you don't ask how much it is. Do you want them? Yes or no? Don't be so troublesome."

She hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. "But only for the right ear, and one of each."

"Choji?" asked Shikamaru. "You want any for yourself?"

"No thanks. I'm just excited to watch you guys get them."

The venture ended up being very useful in the end and far less troublesome than he thought it would be.

Also, Yuuki's smile was nice to see. "Thanks, Shika." He'd earned a nickname in the process.

* * *

"Is it weird that I wanna get my ears pierced too?" Naruto asked the moment he noticed Yuuki's new gift from Shikamaru.

The girl shook her head. "Nah. It's perfectly normal to like decorations, even ones for the body. One day I might get a tattoo."

Tattoos were supposed to hurt a lot. "What kind?"

"Maybe a Fuin one. Being able to use myself to seal important stuff away would be nice. Then I'd never lose anything!"

Those kinds of seals were really difficult to apply. The book she'd given him on it said so. And it would be permanent unless she somehow ripped off all the layers of skin the ink would penetrate. So it _had_ to be an important, well thought out decision.

Naruto kind of liked the idea of a tattoo too. Whenever he had the money he'd give it more thought.

* * *

"Today, we're going to be discussing the difference in laws across the Elemental Nations," Iruka said that morning. "Just because something is legal in Hi no Kuni doesn't mean it's legal in other countries. If you have to go undercover, you need to know which laws cannot be broken and which ones the citizens themselves break on the sly, and the ones their police force won't really care if you break."

This was one of the sections where Iruka had total control of the class and didn't share with any other instructor. He'd always been interested in history from every nation and as such built up a considerable understanding of other peoples and cultures.

"Something I think is incredibly important for you all to know is that in Hi no Kuni, is it's illegal for fifteen year olds and under to engage in sexual acts. Unless they are a shinobi, in which case by law they are recognized as an adult and if they're mature enough to kill then they're mature enough to drink alcohol and consent to sex."

As one being, the entire class paled when they realized the topic of this conversation. Even Yuuki, who seemed to lack any kind of shame in anything, looking completely disgusted.

"Of course there are specifics within these laws in Hi no Kuni that get a bit muddy. No shinobi of any age may engage in sexual relations of any sort with a shinobi under the age of thirteen. And between the ages of fourteen and fifteen it gets muddier when older shinobi are involved.

"You may think this sounds incredibly ridiculous and maybe abnormal, but I warn you that Konoha has the highest Age of Consent in the Elemental Nations. It's more to do with shinobi having shorter lives compared to plain civilians than anything else so why restrict them more than necessary or so the laws state."

Yuuki sneered. "So pedophilia is okay against some physical minors just because they're allowed to kill people at a young age and have a 50/50 chance of dying every day?"

It sounded so much worse when put that way.

"In short terms, yes." He hated having to admit to it too.

"That's messed up."

"Indeed. But it's important for you all to know the disparity between the nations. Whether I gave you this talk or not doesn't matter. You'd still be getting it anyway. I'm simply the best option when it comes to delivering the message."

And so proceeded the most award class he had ever had to teach. And to think, he'd have to give this lecture to every Fifth Year class from then on out.

* * *

Yuuki stared down at the golden card on her side of the desk. It had been placed there by Shikamaru who had dumped similar cards on specific people all around the room without even explaining why he'd done so. And it hadn't warranted much of a questioning apparently.

You are cordially invited to Nara Shikamaru's 12th birthday party.  
**Date:** September 22nd  
**Time:** 4:00 PM  
Gifts are not mandatory.  
RSVP by September 15th.

"My mom made me take a bunch to school to invite all the people I like," the boy explained in monotone as he reclined in his seat.

So then the people he liked were Choji, Yuuki, Shino, Naruto, Kiba, Ino, Hinata, and Sasuke?

"No Sakura?" she asked quietly, not wanting to draw attention to the fact just in case it caused some weird explosion from the girl in question. Her emotions tended to be all over the place all the time and her voice could be very annoying.

"I don't like her," he stated plainly with a shrug of the shoulders. "I don't like Sasuke or Ino much either but Ino has to come because of family obligations and stuff, and Sasuke's all alone all the time and mom threatened me if I don't invite him. She's worried about how he's not interacting with other kids enough and thinks this'll be a good way to get him out and about."

That of course brought attention to the fact that Sasuke was also an orphan like Yuuki and was all alone wherever it was that he lived. Which was sad as hell since he'd had a family once upon a time and actually saw his parents get killed.

She could understand his reasoning over the Sakura thing though. Sakura wasn't someone Yuuki wanted to be near ever for many reasons… but still.

"I don't know… she's guaranteed to graduate with us and we'll have to work with her at some point. Do you want to be remembered as the guy that left her out? Y'all played Ninja together as kids, right? And you've played other things with all of them."

"I get what you're saying but it's going to be exclusionary no matter what because more than half of the class isn't invited and that half aren't from clans," the boy said.

"Yeah but that half probably won't make it far whereas Sakura has the potential. She aggravates the hell out of me but leaving her out feels wrong."

"But _she_ leaves others out all the time," he countered. "And she'll start fights with Ino and Naruto. More like a fight with Ino and use any excuse she can find to hit Naruto, really. She does it all the time. It's not my fault she's made herself so annoying that no one wants to invite her anywhere."

Damn him for making sense! Sakura ended her friendship with Ino over Sasuke. She was the one to do the deed which spurred Ino on to taking away what Sakura ruined their relationship for. Out of petty revenge.

Yuuki was sure Ino had a crush on Sasuke but no longer to the extent from previous years.

And then of course was Sakura's foul attitude toward Naruto. Yes, his persistence in obtaining her friendship and possibly a date was annoying, but she didn't have to lay hands on him. Naruto hadn't ascended to Sakura levels of creepy when it came to his crush after all. he didn't deserve to be hit for it.

"And she'll probably harass Sasuke once she sees him. Ino's got it bad but respects personal space at least with in proper spaces controlled by our family alliance. She can also be distracted easily."

"Well it's your party, so you can pretty much do what you want," Yuuki acquiesced. "What do you want as a gift?"

"Mah! Nothing really interests me honestly. I like sleeping, strategy games, and cloud-watching. I'm a pretty simple guy with pretty simple tastes."

Strategy, huh?

She could do that. Turned out that dream she'd had the other night might come in handy after all.

* * *

"What am I supposed to get him? I've never been to a birthday party before! Do his parents even know he invited me? Will they even want him to talk to me?"

Yuuki watched the blond pace back and forth, sad that he'd been so mistreated by his own village that he didn't have normal experiences with people. "Look, if Shikamaru had been told to stay away from you, it would be public news. Half of the students in our class have loudly proclaimed that their parents want them to stay far away from you. None of the clan kids have been told this though and they don't avoid you, haven't you noticed?"

The look the boy sent her was just full of confusion and then it turned into shock. "Wow. I never realized the only ones who talk to me are clan kids and you."

Understandable since the clan kids made louder noise and were more easy to remember as they all had their own unique characteristics to set them apart from everyone else. And typically they participated more in classwork. And more uses with their privilege.

"Everything will be fine," she assured him. "The invitation says that gifts aren't necessary, I'm just making him one because it will be fun for all of us in the long run. I promise. You can even help me with all of your Kage Bunshin, and then it can be from the both of us!"

Naruto sighed in relief. "Thanks, Yuuki. What are you making him?"

"A board game I thought up. Multi-player, dramatic, and best of all, one of business and deep thought. What better way to teach people about money than to make them play a game all about growing the small amount of money you have into a good business. I have so many ideas! I need you to help me acquire a decent piece of wood that's big enough for it though. I have some carving and painting to do, which means shopping."

* * *

The Nara Compound was spacious and on the edge of the Nara Forest. The houses were traditional and nice to look at if one was into that sort of thing, and Shikamaru's house was as far from the gate as possible, nearest the actual forest. It was the thing he hated the most about being the Clan Heir.

Yuuki and Naruto arrived at the same time - which was a shock to absolutely no one since they lived in the same building - and found the rest of their classmates who got an invite, had already arrived. In Yuuki's arms was a huge box that she carried with relative ease.

Yoshino elbowed him once to get his attention and asked, "Is that your admirer?"

He sighed. "Yes. That's Yuuki." She'd come dressed in her usual clothing but had the sweatshirt wrapped around her waist today. Probably so no one not in the know wouldn't mistake her for a boy again.

"She's cute," his mom said conspiratorially.

"I guess." He'd never really taken the time out of his day to consider the types of attractiveness of the people around him. Like, he was aware that Sasuke was considered '_handsome_' or whatever, but he never cared beyond what he'd picked up from other people's observations.

The moment Yuuki noticed him, slouched in a corner like usual, she made a beeline in his direction, Naruto following closely behind. "Hey! Happy birthday." She handed over the box while Naruto echoed her sentiment. "Naruto and I made it for you."

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked her while staring down at the large, square box Yuuki had given him. It was massive, heavy, and contained smaller pieces that jingled when he shook it around.

"Open it," she prompted without explaining herself. She looked excited.

He did so, removing a square bit of wood that had various carvings on its face. The edges were painted bright green with designs sectioning off even portions of rectangles. The center was specially carved and painted to look like a forest clearing where a river split off in four different directions in the center. The back of it was completely black. There were stickers and drawings all over the rectangular sections.

"It's a game board!" she told him with a smile. "I had a dream about this kind of game and never heard of its equal in real life so I just assumed I came up with it and decided to make it real. I even made a rule-book for it. You can have up to ten players at once. Naruto helped a lot in crafting it."

She gestured to the box where additional bits rested. There were ten stones about the size of his thumb nail, and each was a different color and size. There were stacks of colored pieces of construction paper in rainbow colors with designs that were obviously imitating real money. Then there were white and black cards made of card stock with their own designs and writing. Finally there were cut outs of self-drawn houses taped to bits of plastic.

The board was set down on the floor so everyone around them could get a good look as they'd all come around out of curiosity.

"So we start at GO and play around the board. Each player starts off with 5,000 Ryo. Each time you pass GO the bank owes you a week's worth of pay which is 1,000 Ryo. However, there's a catch. Each of these smaller, colored spaces is a property. If you land on it while it's unoccupied, you have the chance to purchase it for the amount shown. You will then take the property card and place a house on the space."

She demonstrated by taking the paper-covered plastic and putting it down.

"These four blue, indented bits in the center of each side of the board are rivers. Essentially, if you land on them, the village didn't have proper warning signs in place and you fell in and broke your ankle. The village owes you 10,000 Ryo in remuneration."

A quick way to make money.

Yuuki pointed to the two rectangles with the word 'utility' on them. "These places are utility taxes that you must pay to the bank the amount shown. The sections with the chests on them, allow you to draw from the Community Chest which is like a gamble because half the cards are bad and half are good. Some cards award you money, some make you put money in the pot which can be won if you roll two 6s with the dice, and some cards send you to jail, which is the block exactly opposite GO on the other side of the board. You lose your next three turns and you place your piece on the bars. However, when circling the board without being sent there, you place your piece on the Passing By section."

It was a very convoluted system for something she came up with in a dream. It sounded interesting though.

"The goal is to own the board, that's why it's called Monopoly. Once you buy all the property in a section_(they're all color-coded)_ you can buy upgrades from the bank and start setting up hotels on each property. If an unfortunate soul lands on your property, they have to pay you. A House is 500 Ryo, a 1 Tier Hotel is 1,000 Ryo, a 2 Tier Hotel is 3,000 Ryo, and a 3 Tier Hotel is 5,000 Ryo. Additional transactions can be made between players to settle debts, and loans can be taken out with the bank but will come with interest. Someone maintains position of banker at all times. Could be a player or someone outside the game who is watching. Also if someone forgets they own a property and doesn't call for their payment when someone lands on it, then the offender can't be penalized. Same with the banker. If you don't remind the banker that they owe you money for something, you won't get it."

It was a very detailed game for a twelve year old to come up with. He'd never known that children could come up with board games.

"Basically… don't go bankrupt. It's harder than you think," Yuuki finally finished with a demented grin. "I've beat Naruto in every test game we played."

"Hey!"

"I wanna play now," Shikamaru said, plopping down on the floor right there. "I want all the pre-teens to play it with me."

And that was how everyone ended up in a circle, choosing their stones, getting their money, and slowing going through the rules until they all had the basic idea of what was going on.

It was a game of strategy and business. It would take a lot of concentration, but he was certain he'd end up liking it.

If Yuuki decided to market this idea, she'd be rich. He had ideas about how to make that happen. A way so she wouldn't have to worry about where her money came from and what would happen the next time she had to go to the hospital for something and had to pay out of pocket.

His dad would know what to do.

* * *

Hyuga Hinata was sitting in her first ever detention and felt no shame for it. And it was because she'd used Juken on her fellow students outside of Taijutsu classes.

Why would someone with an impeccable reputation ever attack another person? Because they harmed her friend.

Maybe not physically or obviously. Yuuki was completely unaware of what had happened and Hinata wanted it to stay that way. There was no need for her to know the depths Sasuke's fangirls with go to in order to smear her name.

Just because it wasn't physical harm, didn't mean it didn't count as harm. Slandering someone's reputation was equally as terrible in Hinata's book.

Apparently, in an attempt to justify Yuuki's lack of interest in Uchiha Sasuke, because that was the most important thing to these people, the Sasuke Fanclub had decided to spread rumors about her.

Rumors that included,** 1.)** Being unable to bear him children so he'd have no use for her anyway. **2.)** Being solely interested in women now and using Shikamaru as an excuse because she was ashamed of herself for being unable to capture Sasuke's affections. **3.)** Being afflicted by some sexually transmitted disease since she was so poor she's had to '_sell herself in the Hana District_' her whole childhood and could no longer sleep with anyone without spreading the disease so she'd be useless to Sasuke.

The last one really got some cruel laughter too. All of them though, really bothered Hinata not just for how they treated Yuuki but how they also treated Sasuke like a commodity. He was a person who had been through something terrible and yet they refused to acknowledge it and instead used it as a way to fuel their creepy fantasies.

Hinata had been in the lavatory when a group of fangirls came in, talking amongst themselves with hushed snickers and whispered insults. They didn't even recognize her standing at the sinks!

And it was when the STD accusation came up that Hinata's Byakugan flared to life and she demonstrated exactly why she was the best girl in the Taijutsu classes and why she stood on equal footing with Sasuke the entire time they were in the Academy.

Six girls were left on the tiled floor, crying in pain as Hinata went to get Iruka.

And when she came to him grave but lacking any shame for her actions, he'd immediately been concerned.

"Sensei, some girls were saying very cruel things about Yuuki-chan in the bathroom. They said she can't have children because she's got sexually transmitted diseases from selling herself in the Hana District because she needs money. And I was just so angry on her behalf that I struck out first. But I don't regret it."

And she'd gotten a stern talking to about how to handle her anger and when it was appropriate to use it and how she should have gotten a teacher. But he was remarkably lenient with her. She got detention. Meanwhile, the fangirls got suspended for three days each, got a week's worth of detention for when they got back, and apparently would be getting one on one classes about the hard truths behind Sex Work, Poverty, STDs, and Sexual Orientations until they acquired some common decency and sympathy for their fellow man.

When she was released after the hour of silence, she found Naruto waiting for her. "I wanted to see if you're okay," the blond said. "You never get in trouble. What happened?"

And Hinata couldn't even spare the feeling of glee that bubbled up because her annoyance over what had happened overflowed instantly.

"So basically…"

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING.**

* * *

Shikamaru frowned when he noticed Naruto's orange-clad body up on the school roof instead of coming inside like everyone else. His blond hair kept dipping in and out of view. Curious, he elbowed Choji and then nodded upward. "Wanna go see what he's up to?"

The Akimichi opened his second bag of chips for the day and shrugged. "Sure."

And so they slipped away from the crowd of students and up the stairwell to the roof. Anything to get out of classes.

"Hey, Naruto, what are you doing?" the Nara asked.

The blond spared them a small glance as he fiddled with some ninja wire, before saying, "I'm planning out some epic revenge pranks."

"Why?" Naruto hadn't pulled a prank in a while. He'd been too busy training because he really wanted to graduate this time and felt it was more important.

"You know how Hinata got in trouble the other day and had to stay behind for detention?"

"Yeah." And she had refused to tell them why, just that 'it was necessary' in some ominous way.

"Some of Sasuke's Fangirls have been spreading nasty rumors about Yuuki. How she's got sexually transmitted diseases or can't have kids meaning she's useless to him and stuff. And while Hinata got her revenge on them with Juken, and they're still in trouble, I think they deserve even more trouble for their words. So I'm giving it to them."

All at once, Shikamaru felt the cold feeling of fury filling his body. Never before had he ever been this angry before. So angry, in fact, that he felt strangely calm about it, even as that cold feeling washed down his spine and his mind conjured up unpleasant images of things he would very much like to do that would get his arrested at the very least and sent to dungeons of T&I at the very most.

This was worse than what his preconceived notions used to be. He expected catty behavior from young girls because they weren't fully matured yet, and maybe an unhealthy amount of jealousy thrown in there, but this was so much worse than any of that.

"Is Ino involved?" he demanded, his voice so stern that it obviously made Choji uncomfortable. Enough to actually take a few steps away out of self-preservation for his being and the safety of his food.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know and I don't care. She and Sakura are the leaders of the group and they must have had some kind of hand in it, so all of them are getting a part in the revenge. I don't care about the levels of involvement each did or didn't have, they're all guilty by association. It's no longer a club to glorify Sasuke being an orphan, it's now just a bunch of bullies who can't handle someone other than them thriving, and I don't like bullies."

"Make it memorable," the Nara told him tightly. "In the meantime, I'm skipping school to tell Ino's parents. I'm getting sick of this. Choji and I are going to be stuck on a team with her when we graduate and if she's going to be going around and acting like this in any way, I want nothing to do with her and I'm going to make that fact clear."

They'd been given more advanced work in the Academy to prepare them ahead of time for life as a shinobi. They got lectures from active shinobi every month and learned about the ups and downs of the job in every field available to them. He'd been willing to look the other way with the whole kissing Sasuke's ass for stupid reasons because no one had gotten hurt at least, but no long could he remain silent.

Ino had turned twelve. She was about to become a kunoichi. Their line of work wasn't a place for attitudes such as this. How could she be trusted to do her job if she was behaving this way all the time?

"You coming with me or going to class?" Shikamaru asked his long-time friend who looked nervous.

"Um… I'm going to class, if you don't mind. At least so it seems less like our group isn't skipping as a whole. Iruka-sensei won't go off looking if only two people are missing."

Good point.

"See you guys later then. Wish me luck."

* * *

"Hey, where's Shikamaru?" whispered Yuuki, leaning over the empty space between them.

Choji shrugged and murmured, "He had something to do apparently. Said to wish him luck. He might come in late, but I'm not sure."

The girl nodded and slouched in her seat to better hide the bento she had open in her lap. The inside was just completely filled with rice and she was carefully stuffing clumps into her mouth with her chopsticks. Choji was in a similar state, but with a bag of beef jerky. He was attempting to make his food last my having snacks that had more protein and took longer to consume.

"Yuuki, Choji, if I turn around and see you eating, I'll confiscate your food," Iruka warned, chalk pausing on the board even as his back remained facing them.

The two shared a look of concern, before each swallowed in haste and arranged dazzling smiles on their faces when the man finally did turn, his face lacking any amusement.

"Uh-huh."

At least with their antics, it seemed like nothing was out of the ordinary, so it was all good on his end. Now as long as Yuuki remained unaware of the things being said about her, then everything would be perfectly fine.

* * *

An unholy amount of screaming echoed through the Academy, practically shaking the walls with the vibrations it caused. Everyone, regardless of what their teachers wanted, rushed to the bathrooms to see what had happened and found a most amusing sight awaiting them.

Several girls, all from Sasuke's Fanclub, Yuuki noticed, were standing in the bathroom, all with tears pouring down their faces and their hair on the ground around them surrounded by something red. Above their heads was a whole series of clear bags dangling from nearly invisible ninja wire and dripping from the cuts in them, was the red stuff that was now on the floor.

As for the girls and their hair, whatever the red stuff was, and it smelled worse than formaldehyde, didn't fall evenly around them. So some girls had more bald spots than others, but for the most part, their hair was ruined and in order to truly salvage it, they'd have to shave the rest off and let it grow out naturally.

Ino looked like she had a receding hairline now and Sakura had enormous patches missing from around her ears.

Yuuki had no idea what the red stuff was, but damn if it wasn't effective! She had to wonder what warranted this kind of thing though.

The gathered kids, all who had managed to cram inside the bathroom to get a look behind the teachers blocking the way, broke into fits of laughter, pointing at the still crying girls.

Damn. They did _someone_ dirty and she approved of the revenge. It didn't physically harm anyone and apparently couldn't be traced back to anyone either. Well done.

But what red chemical/solution/liquid thing had the power to instantly make someone's hair fall out upon contact? That was the question. And what child had access to such a thing?

* * *

"Get a trademark for that game of yours before some company copies it and makes a profit that you deserve," Shikamaru told her during lunch the following week. "You want to not be poor anymore? That's the way to do it. Mass market those things everywhere. Come up with more if you have to. Eventually your problems will be solved for life."

It had merit and it wasn't something new either. "I actually have considered more games to share. I have prototypes that Naruto and I play in our own time. I've already made notes on how to improve them too. I just need the materials."

"What are they like?" the boy asked, his head resting on his folded arms but facing her direction for easier conversation.

She sat up, excited to tell someone else about the odd ideas she got in her dreams. "So **Snakes & Ladders** is a game where you have to make it to the top, starting at the bottom left and moving toward the top right with a marble. There are indentations on the board to fit the marble in each space. Once you make it to the right side, you go up a level and then move to the left end, where you'll move up one level and then move toward the right. This continues all the way up. But along the way are snakes and ladders. Ladders, if you land on their space, let you immediately climb the levels without having to zigzag up the board, while snakes, if the marble lands in the indentation they make in the board, forces you to roll all the way back down to the tip of the snake's tail toward the bottom of the board. Multi-player, probably up to four people."

"I like it. It would be popular among children and their families."

"Naruto really likes it. He's always getting the best roll on the die."

"Anything else?"

"**Pay Day**," she said. "The board is blocked off into 31 Days to represent a month of time. You set a time limit beforehand, so say 3 months. You play from day 1 to 31 three times in a row and whoever has the most money at the end is the winner. This includes spaces where you can buy expensive properties that you can then sell later on for up to double their price, bills you have to pay, family demanding money from you, and sometimes freebies from other players if they get ordered to pay up. There is a banker in charge of the money too."

"Kind of similar to **Monopoly** but just different enough to grab the same audience and probably another demographic that doesn't want the stress of **Monopoly**. That one takes hours and few are dedicated to winning like me."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I always win at **Monopoly** against Naruto while I always lose at **Pay Day**. I guess he's better at multiplying money in the short term since I typically play for the long haul." Like how she started saving up the moment she transferred into shinobi training so she'd have half a million Ryo saved by graduation. Long haul indeed. Yuuki was so stuck in the future she could barely see the present and that was where Naruto and she differed.

"I have so many ideas and I haven't even gotten around to making prototypes for everything yet."

"My dad said he'd be willing to help you get the paperwork done for all of this if you want to. He's got an ear in some very important businesses and can help you out. He knows what to do and can give you some good advice too."

Yuuki fully turned to him with a critical eye. "And what does the Nara Clan get out of this? I'm not stupid." If he said they wanted nothing she would call him a liar. There was no way anyone, even the nicest of people, would ignore a chance to help themselves or their families, to be better off in life.

"Never said you were, you troublesome girl. He said we'd front you the money for the start-up in manufacturing so you won't have to dip into your savings so close to graduation, and in return he'd ask for 20% of the total income you would make off this if you decide to make it a brand."

That could be a lot of money, but even when all was said and done she'd at least get a good portion of everything in the end. And with the entire world exposed to her ideas, she could rake in a lot of money. That 20% wouldn't be much of a loss to her. She'd have to consider it further and all the potential investments involved and how many shares and where they went. Which meant she needed to read a book on investing finances really soon.

"Should I come over and talk with him?" she asked, mind already doing the hard math on what splitting these funds would do for her.

"Tonight okay?"

"Yep."

* * *

Hiruzen smiled, pleased with himself.

"Don't go getting a big head old man, I know what you're up to," Tsunade warned him as she plopped down in a chair. Her Apprentice took the other offered chair, a hesitant smile on her face. There was sake already provided in order to lessen her annoyance. She took to it gladly, as he expected. Shizune decided to have water as her choice of beverage.

"Pray tell, what am I up to, Tsunade?"

"You needed a quick way to get me back in the village and knew I'd follow Shizune anywhere. Smart," the woman said with a frown, downing her first saucer of sake without blinking. "Annoying as fuck but very smart."

"That's only part of the reason," he admitted as there would be no point in lying about it. There was just so much to catch her up on and now that she was in the village, the chances of her leaving after what he had to tell her, were incredibly low. In fact, he'd probably have to stop her from committing unsanctioned murder. It wouldn't look good and Koharu and Homura would never want her as the Godaime Hokage if Hiruzen let it happen.

"There is a lot more going on right now and having you both here would be better for the village as a whole. The traitorous Chunin mentioned in the scroll Buta handed to you lead to us taking a deeper interest in Orochimaru and the new village of Otogakure which is just filled with people he's experimented on for reasons yet unknown but supposedly for his own benefit."

The muscle in Tsunade's jaw tightened. "What's the snake been up to, sensei?"

He sighed, feeling exhausted and guilty all at once because this wouldn't be happening if he'd had the resolve to end his former student years ago. Still, he pressed onward. "Jiraiya put his nose in some important places thanks to the information we gleaned a few years ago. From what we've learned so far, Otogakure plans to invade Konoha in a joint effort with Suna, to do as much damage as possible during the Chunin Exams following Uchiha Sasuke's graduation from the Academy. Orochimaru is very interested in the Sharingan and figures Sasuke-san is the easiest way to obtain it as any attempts on Uchiha Itachi failed him."

Tsunade grumbled and rolled her eyes. "His obsession with minors has always been a major concern to me but I just passed it off as scientific curiosity of the human condition, but this isn't the first child he's obsessed over and the kid won't be the last either. I'm beginning to wonder about him and his mental faculties."

Her Apprentice winced and looked away. "I'd prefer not to think about it, shishou."

"Jiraiya will be coming back to the village during the Exams as well so having you both here might prevent more chaos than expected. Might even make him _not_ want to invade at all."

The dubious glare she sent him let him know how foolish she thought his hope was, and he had to admit that she was right.

"So about this kid you want Shizune to work on, what can you tell us about her? I'm not blind to the fact that if she becomes Shizune's Apprentice then she's basically my second Apprentice even if distantly because I'll be so busy."

Having already anticipated this, he handed over the girl's profile which had been updated ahead of time. It wasn't very thick, but the notes made were the most important of all. Iruka had been very thorough in his observations.

"She went from 99th percentile in the civilians school and having great grades to being in the 50th percentile in the Academy and being average?" Tsuande said with a tone of complete displeasure.

"All deliberate, I assure you," the old Kage said with a smile. "Yuuki-chan is very much like the Nara in that she understood class rankings and calculated the amount she needed to maintain an easy place in the A Class. She could have graduated early but since she has two stipends from different places that will stop coming once she graduates, she wanted to take advantage for as long as possible to prepare herself for life as a poor Genin. She has a mind for business and money and realized early on that D-Rank pay is abysmal when half goes to the village and the rest has to be split at least four ways. Rent and utilities will enter her life the moment she's a Genin so she needs as much money saved up as possible. She even realized how beneficial the new lessons would be in preparing her for life as a soldier so she takes _them_ seriously at least."

And she was imparting her lessons onto Naruto! The boy had improved a lot with her help. Not just in class, but in life. He learned how to budget, he learned Konoha Sign Language & More Code, and he learned the valuable lessons in empathy versus sympathy. It was wonderful! All by being around one girl.

"Her chakra control is noted to be the best her Chunin Instructor has ever seen," said Tsunade, eyes flitting over the pages. "Kunai Balancing by the time she was nine. She mastered Tree Walking and Water Walking by ten before her classmates who all took an extra year of study. By eleven had discovered her Chakra Nature to be Fire and burned her leaves already and moved on to Coal Cooling. You've started teaching Chakra Nature in the Academy?"

He nodded. He'd realized that it was a necessity to prepare them. "Yuuki-chan made some good points to her Chunin Instructor on how limiting kunoichi classes were overall. I decided to take a closer look into the Academy structure and found some concerning details. I'll tell you more later on, but know that the entire curriculum was re-hauled and all the students are learning skills to help them live, not just survive. Yes, we encourage personal study, but we should have been doing more to get them on the right path to begin with."

"It's far better than what _we_ were taught in school," Tsunade observed with a grumble, "but it's still not something that could be considered wartime teaching so it wouldn't alert the other villages. Not with mandatory cooking and sewing lessons added in here. It says she showed promise in the basic medical courses taught at the Academy and can handle small cuts and bruises on her own now."

"Yes. Yuuki-chan's best friend is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm certain I don't need to explain his existence to you."

The blonde shook her head. Of course he had told her about Minato and Kushina's child and the status of the new Jinchuuriki who was distantly her relative. Very distantly. It was important information either way.

"As they train together often and he gets hurt a lot, she uses him a guinea pig and he doesn't mind. If it was anyone else I would object but as any injury she might accidentally give him through failed Iryo Ninjutsu is minimal and would be healed thanks to his special circumstances, I don't see a problem with it."

"Has she expressed an interest in the medical profession?" asked Shizune, leaning forward in interest.

"Yes. She was quickly made aware of her options being Genjutsu and Iryo Ninjutsu and she told her Chunin Instructor that Genjutsu was boring and being a ninja doctor would at least make it easier for her to diagnose her own ailments and keep her friends safe."

"How is her application of chakra into her Taijutsu?" Tsunade asked, flipping through more papers.

"She's in third place for the girls and sixth place overall in Taijutsu. She doesn't use it in the Academy because she's aware of how much damage it could do. Though she did spar one of Maito Gai's students a while back in a first to three injuries match and won with no injuries sustained. Gai insisted she was very skilled but needs to work on her defenses more as her speed isn't the best so she might not be able to get close enough to someone to deal such damage."

Both women nodded.

He was just glad that they were both being cooperative.

"As for other matters of much greater import, I need to tell you about what we discovered in Danzo's hideouts. It involves Orochimaru's experiments, you, and your grandfather's DNA."

The stiffening of Tsunade's shoulders made Hiruzen feel even more guilty than before. Once again, because of his naive hope in the people he cared for, something atrocious had occurred under his purview.

* * *

"So here's the gist of what I've come up with that I think is perfectly fair," said Yuuki in a no-nonsense tone. The men at the table with her all blinked in shock as she steamrolled whatever they'd planned to say. It was her work they wanted to benefit from after all. Of course she got the biggest say.

"I want 40% of all profit. My concepts. My art. My prototypes. That means I deserve the biggest share based on those facts alone. Then your company will receive 30% because of distribution, ad campaigns, and manufacturing. The Nara Clan will received 20% as we have already negotiated before this meeting. The finally 10% will go to my friend Uzumaki Naruto who was a big help in the crafting of these prototypes I have before you and will continue to help me craft more."

The nine men, excluding Nara Shikaku who had come as moral support basically, all stared at the papers and games she'd slapped down before them. Some sneered at the mention of Naruto's name, and she knew that they'd be important to watch out for.

"This is how it's gonna be if you wish to license the brand **Yuuki's**. And don't worry, half of my share of the profit is going to be split between the Kato Foundation and other charity cases that this village apparently can't seem to figure out how to aid."

Shikaku hummed. "I'd advise you to take her offer. It's the best deal for everyone involved, and even those _not_ directly involved. She has _dozens_ of games in mind and taking advantage of this now would be the smart thing to do."

His silent but slightly terrifying presence behind her was a relief as the men in charge all caved pretty easily then. They cared more about not losing money than they did about their dislike of Naruto. And maybe working closely with them she could help show them that there was no reason to dislike Naruto to begin with.

* * *

"What is that?" Choji asked that afternoon at lunch when Yuuki pulled out a scroll instead of the usual bento of rice.

"A storage seal for food," said Yuuki, spreading it on the lunch table. "I've gotten into the use of Fuinjutsu lately because I've noticed it has a great many uses. And I decided to take advantage of the end of season sale at the market and stock up on produce as much as possible. In this special scroll, the food will stay fresh far longer than it would in my fridge so if I buy in bulk now when there are discounts right before the prices shoot up in winter, then I will save money all winter and spring and won't need to go shopping for months. I'm a genius. Fear me."

Naruto snorted. "I've never met someone who goes about being lazy by doing excess work ahead of time."

"My way is genius. Y'all are just a bunch of preps. I put up my middle finger at you!"

"What?" the boys collectively said in confusion.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "It came to mind so I said it." The words '_My Immortal'_ and '_trash_' came to mind as well but no explanation was forthcoming so she chose it ignore it.

Shikamaru and Choji along with Shino and Hinata were also with them. Hinata was steadily refusing to look at Naruto whenever he faced her direction, but she would go pink whenever she peeked at him. Shino was very quiet like normal, but they kept him involved in conversation. Shikamaru had inhaled his lunch so he could rest and Choji was on his second bento.

Naruto of course, had gone to Ichiraku to get ramen to go and had been back pretty quickly. Yuuki had still been sorting her fruits for her meal by the time he'd returned.

"Are you really gonna eat a whole watermelon during lunch?" asked Choji, looking curious.

"Don't underestimate me! Anyone got a kunai?" Just because they weren't allowed to buy them yet didn't mean the clan kids didn't get them as gifts from their family members. Of course they had them already.

Shikamaru offered one only a second before Shino managed to. The two eyed each other for a second but said nothing. Beaming at them both, she accepted their weapons and eyed the melon closely. It was a thing she liked doing to see how long it would take to slice the whole melon into manageable pieces with the rind completely gone.

Her best score was twenty-three seconds.

"Naruto, time me!"

"San...ni...ichi...Hajime!"

She went, blades flashing back and forth as she hacked the melon up into ten perfectly even pieces where the rind was discarded.

"Twenty seconds!"

"YES!"

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING.**

* * *

Nara Shikaku sighed. Because of his troublesome son they had to join the Yamanaka and Akimichi Head families in a joint meeting. This had the potential to affect the future of their clans so they had to get it all out of the way now before things festered for too long.

While it made extra work for him, he was proud. Shikamaru was learning to stand up for what he believed in and was willing to defend his friends, even if it meant straining relations with their partner families. Doing what was right was much more difficult than going with the flow. And as Shikamaru was not in the wrong, it was good of him to hold people accountable for their actions regardless of partnerships.

Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino were also present for this meeting, and Ino remained the only one unaware of what was going on. She merely looked bored while everyone else was tense.

Inoichi cleared his throat to begin the meeting. "Ino, it has come to our attention that your friend group has become a concern to people." He was putting it very lightly, probably to save her feelings. Shikakau thought he should just get it over with. Rip it off like a bandage and save them all the trouble.

The girl in question frowned, the hat hiding her missing hair looking ridiculous in the process. "I don't understand, tou-chan."

Her father sighed, obviously feeling the same way Shikaku did in this scenario. "The Sasuke Fanclub has apparently, followed Uchiha-san home, stolen his possessions and sold them at ridiculously high prices to other fans, told him they'd '_heal his broken heart_', told him he was '_so lucky he didn't have parents to order him around_' and that he was cool for being '_his own man'_, spread nasty and inconsiderate rumors about anyone who won't join their fanclub but is still a threat to them, and threatened harm to others who don't bow down to their obsession."

There was more to that list than what Shikaku had been told. He sent a look toward Shikamaru who had a stony expression on his face and looked perfectly awake for this meeting. Apparently Shikamaru had truly been angered with this, and not just mildly annoyed. It wasn't a good idea to anger a Nara, because they could be relentless in getting revenge.

Iniochi's daughter paled as the accusations came out one by one, until Shikaku wondered if she'd pass out.

"B-but I've barely done any of that! I can't be blamed for _their_ actions!"

"But you are the self-declared president of the club," said Shikaku quietly. "Their actions reflect on you and you haven't reined them in at all. And I'm not so certain you're telling the truth either."

She quaked beneath his blank stare, eyes shifting to the side instead of meeting his head on. A suspicious action to take.

Inoichi cut in with, "If I made you swear on your status as Clan Heiress, that you did not participate in any of these actions, would you 100% do so without hesitation?"

And that was it. Ino bowed her head and shook it a few times.

Of course they'd have to get the exact extent of what she'd done out of her, but the talk was far from over and that would come out eventually. He could only hope she'd own up to everything so they didn't have to treat this like pulling teeth.

"Shikamaru has expressed concerns over being on a team with you because of the attitude you've formed thus far. He refuses to be convinced and has threatened to fail this year just so he won't be on a team with you. He used some unpleasant words when explaining what your club has been doing this year," Inoichi explained. "Especially to his friend Yuuki while she's remained unaware."

When Ino turned to look at Shikamaru, his face adopted the same expression as Shikaku's, and she looked away in haste.

"I don't like bullies," Shikamaru stated plainly. "And my willingness to work with them is incredibly low. If you don't grow up and stop being a creep, I have no problem leaving you to be on a team with perfect strangers."

Yes, while it was annoying that they had to do this, he was very proud of his son anyway.

* * *

"Alright, Naruto! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to break into the record room, uncover the birthdays of the people on this list, and report back to me with the info you acquire," Yuuki said, handing over a small piece of paper. "Think of it as infiltration training. Make use of your Kage Bunshin as potential distractions. If you can get in and out without being caught, I'll buy you as much ramen as you can eat in one sitting at Ichiraku for your birthday."

He looked excited but also confused. "Why do you need to know their birthdays?"

"'Cause after Shikamaru's I realized that people who aren't poor celebrate their birthdays and get gifts and stuff and as I like them I would like to give them something too."

"Oh! Okay! You can count on me!" Of course she could. She'd put ramen on the line and there was no way he would pass up ramen. Naruto would do anything for ramen, especially if he didn't have to pay for it himself. She understood the feeling very well as she was a cheapskate.

He took the list and then he was gone.

Some might wonder why Yuuki didn't just walk on up to the people in question and ask for their birthdays, but she was embarrassed over not knowing them and didn't want to admit that she hadn't bothered to learn them before. In her mind, it sounded like she was an insensitive prick who didn't care to learn about her classmates, and didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea. And despite knowing that none of them knew her own date of birth, it still bugged her.

So this way was better. And Naruto was a better sneak than she was. Her skills lay elsewhere, so she was putting her trust in him to do right by her for the ramen in his future.

On her way to class, she did a few squats to try and stretch out her shorts a bit. She'd put on some weight thanks to her PCOS and it made her clothes even more tight than when she was just growing out of them.

She might have to cave and buy a new wardrobe early. But she would at least attempt to stretch out everything before doing that!

* * *

It was being treated like a mission. And ramen was on the line so it was extra important that everything go smoothly. Naruto didn't know why Yuuki couldn't just go up and ask everyone for their birthdays, but since he was getting ramen for this, he didn't really care.

The best way to get into the records room was to be brought in willingly. And there was no way a teacher was going to bring _him_ inside if he looked like himself.

This was where Kage Bunshin came in handy. After learning that he picked up the memories from them when they dispelled, he'd been working on how to make the best use of them possible. Naruto's Henge abilities were unparalleled. He could turn into a shuriken and if he was dispelled, he could quickly turn into something else in the smoke, and could do this for an unlimited number of times.

He and Yuuki had tested it one afternoon and the number of changes they got to before she got bored of the exercise, was seventy-three. And he'd used different items of different sizes and weights each time.

So it was all about getting in the room somehow, and using the Henge to turn into common, everyday objects was the best way to go. That way he could get carried in personally. Getting out was simple because the Bunshin would just dispel itself and leave no trace behind.

Making one hundred Kage Bunshin and ordering them to each turn into something that would be found in a school, but was inconspicuous enough to not get much attention for being out of place, was the first order of business. Pens and pencils. Papers. Paperclips. Something would eventually get carried into the records room if he was lucky.

Personally, Naruto had situated himself on the roof in case he had to make more Kage Bunshin. He needed all of his concentration on this task and the influx of memories from the clones would get in the way during classwork, so he was personally skipping today, not that Iruka knew it since he had a Kage Bunshin in his place just in case. And it was for ramen! And while he knew Yuuki would have bought him a bowl for his birthday anyway, this was all-you-can-eat ramen on the line. Naruto was far poorer than Yuuki and he would take what he could get.

As he meditated, he hoped his clone in the classroom didn't get hit too hard during Taijutsu practice because how would he explain when it poofed away?

Naruto was not the best in that class. He just didn't '_vibe_' as Yuuki would say, with the style the Academy taught. It was restricting and annoying and he hated it. But he knew enough to stay in the middle of the class roster.

He was no longer the dobe of the class. That was Shikamaru. And it was only Shikamaru because he was too lazy to pick up a damn pencil and answer more than the amount of questions necessary to get him a pass.

Why Yuuki had a crush on him, Naruto didn't know. Though he _was_ pretty. And nice.

Over the next few hours Naruto sat in the same place, wincing now and then as the memories came to him. He'd need to find a way to combat that because too many at once gave him a headache. One hundred clones doing different tasks was worse than a thousand all doing the same thing.

The memories they gathered through chakra training were all exactly the same because they all did the same stuff. Memories from doing different things for hours were harder to file away and make sense of.

Eventually though, he managed a success because one of his clones popped and the knowledge hit him instantly. A pen taken into the records room to modify some documents. When it didn't work it was thrown in the trash and left there. When the teacher was gone, the clone go to work and then poofed away.

At once, every other clone dispelled, leaving him lying on the roof with a massive headache as various experiences came to mind.

But it was all for the ramen! Ramen was worth almost any kind of struggle there was! Besides, he could put away like seventeen large servings if he really tried his best. And _that_ was what he did this for. He could order one of each kind too!

When he met up with his friend at the end of the day, he handed over the list she'd given him and said, "You owe me so much ramen!"

"I know. Thanks, dude."

* * *

**Hinata - December 27th**

**Shino - January 23rd**

**Choji - May 1st**

She'd managed to write them all in order of their birthdays too. "Good job, Naruto. Get whatever you want, I got brainstorming to do."

As in, what the hell was she going to get them?

Hinata was easy. A picture of Naruto and her day would be made. After all this time living in the same complex as him, Yuuki had gotten a few pics. All she needed was a cute frame to put it in and Hinata was set.

Choji would take food and that wouldn't be hard to handle. They even shared a birthday which was surprising. There was no way she'd forget his birthday if hers was the same day.

Shino… she had an idea. She'd make him a Dirt Cup in a Bug Mug she saw at the shop. And she'd use chocolate pudding with buggy gummies with worms sticking out! It would have to be made the morning of his birthday though so nothing went bad, but that didn't mean she couldn't get the ingredients now.

Yuuki felt accomplished!

Tuning back into the present, she found the bar filled with empty bowls. Eleven in total so far, in two stacks that reached pretty high. Naruto was still going strong with no sign of stopping.

He was such a dork sometimes. And she wouldn't have him any other way.

* * *

"Shishou, I just found out that the Kato Foundation will be receiving set donations in the name of Yuuki-san come January."

Tsunade looked up from the desk cluttered with paperwork. As the Hospital Director, she now had to fix all the problems going on behind the scenes and somehow find out how to keep things afloat. It had been taking up her time ever since she got back.

When Shizune came in, she'd hoped it would be for a good reason, and for once she got what she wanted! And also a distraction!

"Did you find out why?" From what she remembered, the girl was a poor orphan and wouldn't have enough to donate to a charity fund. So how was this happening?

Shizune handed over a form. After a few minutes she smirked. "The girl has a brand of games now and will be getting paid soon?"

"Apparently. She's splitting the amount she'll receive each month in half and donating it to the Kato Foundation."

Tsunade didn't know of any children who would just up and donate the money they earned, to a good cause if they weren't being forced by their parents. It took a decent character to be willing to do such a thing.

Her opinion was raising by the day.

Also, any donations would help and the Kato Foundation was non-profit and they needed all the help they could get.

"I look forward to meeting your future Apprentice."

* * *

In the past month, Yuuki had employed Naruto once again for a big task. It was purely fact that he was a better infiltrator than she was. His skill set oscillated between '_hard-hitter_' and '_espionage_' depending on the day and where his attention was focused. she got to him on a good day.

This time, she'd paid him in dinners, to break into the library and find her some notes on other types of Bunshin. She wanted to have one outside the standard taught at the Academy, ready by graduation, which was five months away. She wasn't of a rank high enough to get to the sections necessary so it had to be Naruto who had the talent in this particular area.

"Why can't you just do the Kage Bunshin like me?" he asked.

And all at once, the answer came to her without her ever knowing it beforehand. Like her mind whispered it to her. "Because it evenly divides the chakra and I might not have enough where making a single clone would be safe for me. You have an ass load which is why you can spam them so much, but not everyone is so lucky."

He looked put out. "You should make your coils bigger so I can teach you some day! I'm a good teacher! -ttebayo!"

"We'll see what happens," she conceded. "But for now can you just get me all the info you can? I'll even teach you a new clone too if you want. it shouldn't be too hard."

Naruto saluted. "No problem! My clones will get in and out and no one but us will ever know about it."

She handed him a notebook. "Write down what you can get on each clone. I'll make dinner. I made blueberry cobbler last night by the way."

The blond gasped and rushed to the fridge where said confection was indeed waiting, the sugar glazing the top perfectly. "Awesome! Are we splitting it in half?"

"Don't we always?"

"I can't wait!"

A dozen Kage Bunshin were made then and sent off to do their duty.

"One is going to go in and loitering around the children's section for picture books. That will keep the librarian's eyes on him while the rest break in from the back and get the stuff."

"Smart," she complimented. Using an idiot's prejudice against them to get what you wanted. Genius. She was so proud of his growth!

He'd gotten so much better at planning in recent years and he never got caught in pranks anymore. She was proud to call him a friend and partner in crime!

Interesting how they fell into a friendship so easily when she'd spent so long angsting over how people could become friends. Being yourself really was the only answer, huh? Corny but true.

* * *

For fuck sake, there were like a bajillion kinds of Bunshin!

Bug, Ink, Flower, Leaf, Water, Sand, Stone, Sake, Grass, Man-Beast, Oil, Diamond, Crystal, Snow, Blood, Wood, Chocolate, Plasma, Gold, Silver, Iron, Saliva, Mucus, Fire, Lightning, Nature Chakra, and Shadow.

All but the Kage Bunshin got an explanation, but that was because it was the most dangerous and was Kinjutsu. Specifically a Kinjutsu of Konoha that was created by the Nidaime Hokage and no one wanted it to fall into the hands of the other villages. It was supposedly only written down in detail in one place.

"Leaf would be best," suggested Naruto. "In Hi no Kuni we're surrounded by them so it'd be the easiest thing to do and you could spam it over and over again."

"What about terrain not from Hi no Kuni? Some places don't grow trees and I don't want to limit myself here."

"I don't know. Fire? That would hurt."

Well she _did_ have Katon Chakra for her elemental affinity. In theory it would be the easiest to learn too as she already had half the work toward it finished on her own thanks to the Academy adding Chakra Natures to the curriculum.

"You should learn another type too. Just to fuck with people who think they know everything about your fighting style. And maybe learn some specific jutsu for your Chakra Nature while you're at it. You got the resources to do it faster than an average shinobi could."

"I know Kaze no Yaiba, Reppusho, and Daitoppa already."

She blinked, having not expected him to say that at all. "When did you manage to find out about those and then learn how to do them?"

The blond shrugged. "I sneaked into the library once already and got a bunch of books on cool jutsu. I couldn't do much of them though," he admitted with a slump of the shoulders. "I don't have that kind of patience and reading is hard still. And my second Nature which is really minor, is Raiton. The most I can do for that is make a spark in my hands and that's it."

Opposing Chakra Natures? That rarely happened. Wind made Lightning useless basically. But there were no Wind Bunshin. Something about air not having some sort of physical substance like all the other Bunshin bases did. The others were created with things that could be touched and held on to. Wind could not truly be contained.

But it was also something interesting to have up his sleeve. No one would expect a Wind user to have Lightning as their second affinity. Naruto was a mass of contradictions.

"Learn the Raiton Bunshin, and if you master using the Kawarimi with it, it'll zap people when they hit it hard enough. Might knock someone out if it's got enough power in it."

"Cool!"

Maybe oil and fire would be the best combination for _her_ specific skill set as they often went together to add juice to Katon Jutsu. The Abura and Katon Bunshin could be a dangerous combo move as the oil would be incredibly flammable and the explosion would be huge! Might even make enemies think twice about coming in her direction. The less confrontation she had to face as a future Iryo-Nin, the better.

If the work wasn't an absolute necessity, the odds of her willingly doing it were slim to none.

She hated doing work that was boring, sue her.

And the difference between she and Shikamaru was that he was too smart to be able to handle things not geared toward his attention span. It's why he got bored so damn quickly and found cloud watching a better waste of time because at least it wasn't failing at challenging him. Yuuki just didn't want to do work at all if she could help it. Lack of motivation for anything was far different from just plain old laziness.

"I've made my decision."

* * *

"Would you like to go train?" Shino asked hat afternoon once classes were let out. "I wanted to test my skills against a different opponent and your style is interesting."

Yuuki blinked twice at him, before shrugging. "I mean, you'll cream my corn. It won't be much of a challenge for you."

"I distinctly remember you saying something similar about Shikamaru because he's smarter, but you managed to bring it to a tie."

"I guess. Fine. Let's bring Naruto! He always makes training interesting."

Shino didn't mind Naruto in the least, but he had hoped that it could just be him and Yuuki training. And then if they had trained for too long, he could take her out. For dinner. Somewhere nice. It wouldn't really be a date but he could think of it as one.

"Hey, Naruto! We're going to train!" Yuuki announced with a mad wave of the arm.

The blond beamed and bounced on over. "Cool! I've been wanting to try out three-way battles! We can go for ramen afterward."

Both Yuuki and Shino sighed because of course that was where his mind wandered to first.

"Fine," Yuuki agreed.

There was _nothing_ romantic about ramen. But still, at least he got to spend time around Yuuki outside of classes when she wasn't around Shikamaru, so that was good at least.

"Why don't we invite everyone along?" Naruto then suggested, and Shino could just felt that pit in his stomach growing and spreading as it tried to swallow him whole. Any attempts he'd make at romance, were going to fail completely, he realized. Perhaps he should wait for a better time to strike. Like when they were all shinobi and on their own teams and had duties to see to.

"Only if you are the one getting them in on it. I don't feel like moving if I don't have to yet." Yuuki was relaxing in the shade of a tree and looked to be on the verge of sleeping. Maybe he hadn't picked a good time to ask?

Then again, she always looked tired so how could he really know?

"I'll be right back with everyone! -ttebayo!"

Yuuki grinned up at Shino, looking mischievous. "Imagine if we have a big group of people and we go out for dinner at a buffet, then we all split the bill evenly and it won't be super expensive!"

Ah. He probably should have also considered the money-saving opportunity. Though as he had planned to pay for her meal anyway, she would have saved money.

The gods of love were not being kind to him. What must he do?

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING.**

**Sunikkaduru - Snickerdoodle.** I just put the word into Google Translate and  
saw how the Japanese would pronounce it.

-This was late because my sleeping schedule is out of wack. Sorry.

* * *

"Happy birthday."

Hyuga Hinata flushed the moment she was presented with a gift from Yuuki. The orphan looked a bit bashful as she stated, "I realized that most people celebrate their birthdays. As I'm an orphan, I never got to do that so I'm desensitized basically, but I wanted to get you something to prove that I value your friendship and that I'm sorry for missing the past few."

The Hyuga Heiress shook her head in mortification, feeling terribly now that she was reminded. "I never got you anything either, Yuuki-chan! It's fine. Thank you for your consideration!"

Yuuki gestured to the bag she'd set on Hinata's desk. "Go on then."

The bag was purple and had a long, dark purple ribbon tying the handles together. Everyone had come to associate the color with Hinata after the few years they'd known one another, because it was all she'd wear. Inside was a box filled with Yuuki's sunikkaduru. The name was difficult to say but she knew she loved them because of the cinnamon in them. Under the box was something rectangular, wrapped in a purple, silk handkerchief.

She gasped. Naruto! Well… a photo of Yuuki and Naruto together, but still! Naruto. In a photo. That Hinata could keep in her room. Her heart was pounding and she didn't know if she could breathe!

"I thought that'd be the kicker," said Yuuki with a smirk. "I hope you like the gift. I tried my best."

"Nnnnnn!" was all Hinata could get out.

She had a nice snack and a photo of her friends. She'd put it on her windowsill and it would be one of the first things she'd see every morning!

* * *

"This is going to be your last survival exercise before graduation," Iruka told them that morning when they got to school. "We're going to put everything we have into this to make it the most difficult exercise your class has ever participated in, so I hope you came prepared."

She could hear Shikamaru's groan before it even began, and almost cackled at his dismay. Seeing him emote was one of the funniest things she could do in her spare time. It was kind of weird how much fun staring at him was. And maybe a bit creepy. She vowed to dial back on it in the future just to be safe.

Yuuki never really had a problem with their survival exercises because she usually ended up with a job that required her to sit the whole time, which was totally fine for her! And she never had to do something she didn't know how to do! So in her experience, it was fine!

"You will be split into teams of three, like real Genin teams are. The objective is simple. Find this flag in the village. _This_ is it," their teacher said, holding up what had to be a copy of the flag in question. It was black and white checkered and in the center was a blue dolphin with a headband on that was supposed to represent Iruka no doubt.

"When you say '_the village_' did you mean like, the _whole_ village?" Haruno Sakura asked, looking horrified. "As in, even out to the walls and the mountain?!"

"Of course!" Iruka agreed with a cheerful grin. "We wanted it to be as difficult as possible to let you know that we are taking you seriously and want to help you to the best of our ability!"

The class whined in response. Yuuki didn't like capture the flag all that much. The flag was usually deep underwater or high above their heads and it sucked having to get to them.

"Some notes for you all. There are many fakes planted all over. All of us have done our absolute best to evenly spread our scents around the village so the trackers won't have it easy. No buildings outside of public domain contain the flag as we don't want you to get into any legal trouble. The winning team will be exempt from participating in the next class-wide assessment and receive a free day where they don't have to come to school at all."

That was a nice surprise for the winning team. Yuuki could imagine all the designing she could get done for her board games in that time. She already had some basic sketches done and wanted to finish them so she could get working on crafting the prototypes. The more games they had by January, the more money would be coming in soon after the launch.

"You will have until four. Meet back here by then whether you have the flag or not."

They were then separated into teams. Yuuki found herself with Shino, who was at the top of the class just behind Sasuke, and Naruto who was somewhere just below the middle, making her the one directly _in_ the middle. And she was only in the middle because she wanted to be.

A Tracker/Infiltrator Specialist, a future Iryo-nin, and a Trap Specialist/Chakra Nut on a team. It was a good mix of talents in her opinion.

Shikamaru ended up on a team with Haruno Sakura who he really didn't like, and Puppy. Sakura was pretty high in the class rankings, swapping on and off with Blondie and Hinata for first place a lot in terms of theoretical work. She had book smarts and Knowledge on her side. Shikamaru was a Strategist. And Puppy was the muscle capable of Tracking basically.

Choji was on a team with Sasuke and Fangirl #4 whose name was forgotten every time she learned it. So maybe she never really learned it.

Hinata got stuck with Fangirl #5 and Fanboy #1.

It was an unfair amount of separation.

The teams got together awkwardly and waited for further instructions.

"On my mark… GO!" Iruka yelled, and the students vanished on all sides, leaving Yuuki's team still in the yard.

Yuuki had looked to Naruto immediately for direction, but noticed that he hadn't moved an inch. In fact, he'd been very quiet the entire time Iruka had been talking. His eyes were narrowed on the flag in Iruka's hands instead of bragging about finishing the exercise before anyone else.

"Call me crazy all you want, but I think _that's_ the real flag," he said with a nod of the head in Iruka's direction.

Both Shino and Yuuki's heads snapped around to look at the Chunin was staring at them with a very blank face all of a sudden. His open personality seemed to just drain away the moment the class was gone.

"He said 'this is it'. He didn't say it was a copy of it. He specified there _were_ copies, but not that the one he was holding was one of them. Therefore, that has to be the flag we have to get."

Iruka smiled then, eyes glinting mischievously. "Well done. I am an enemy holding hostage the item you dearly need."

He was right?!

"But just because you figured it out doesn't mean it'll be easy to capture. I said this was the hardest exercise you'll have had in the Academy for a reason. You have to get me to give it to you."

Meaning they had to fight him for it. The Genin-to-be all shared a look. Iruka had only been a Chunin for five years and he seemed to have no interest in moving up in rank. He liked where he was at in life and felt he was at his most useful helping children grow and learn. With his attention on the students, he probably didn't get enough time to train himself every day, so the chances of him being that strong were low.

Yuuki pulled both boys a good distance away and used Shino's bulky coat to block Iruka's line of sight as she signed to her team. They couldn't risk speaking out loud because who knew how well he could hear?

**[Naruto, it's time to reveal the Kage Bunshin. Shino, Naruto can make hundreds of physical clones of himself to serve as a diversionary or info-gathering unit. You and I will Henge into Naruto when he makes his clones, using the smoke to hide where we are. Your Kikaichu need to get on Iruka to drain him, so I suggest covering all of the nearest clones in them so they can get in close. So long as I land one good punch I can probably knock him on his ass for the rest of the day.]**

The boys both nodded and they all turned to their teacher with determination.

"Are you ready?" the Chunin asked.

"Now, Naruto!"

The blond's hands came up in the familiar cross seal. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Iruka's look of shock when at least a hundred orange-clad pre-teens appeared and Shino and Yuuki successfully disappeared from his view to blend in with them, was great! The element of surprise was the best thing ever!

They attacked in a hoard. There were Kikaichu flying every which way. Clones were tossed from side to side, but thanks to their training, they didn't pop quite so easily anymore and could take more damage. Naruto's chakra control had improved even if it would never be great. But when he had so much chakra anyway, did that really matter in the long run?

It was easy to tell that Iruka was overwhelmed not only by the number of attackers, but their skills. There were beetles crawling all over his face and arms, sucking out his chakra in hopes of weakening him. The best boy in Taijutsu engaged him in combat as he tried to keep the blobs of orange away so they couldn't dog-pile him.

Yuuki, in the form of Naruto, slinked her way forward with an attacking group, mimicking their movements almost perfectly and swinging a fist back. The chakra flew down her arm faster than ever before as she snapped it forward and into their sensei's gut.

"Oof!" the man grunted as he went flying back and into the wall of the Academy building. There was a small crack revealed in the stone when he fell to the ground.

"Okay! Okay!" the man said through a wince, cradling his middle and waving his other hand urgently. "You win. This was an unfortunate grouping on my part. Kage Bunshin of all things? _How_?"

He held up the flag and Yuuki took it from him and tossed it to Shino while she knelt beside the man, asking him the standard questions expected in the medical course. Could he breathe? Could he see how many fingers she was holding up? Was he seeing any colored dots and if so, what color? Was there a ringing in his ears? Could he register scent? That sort of stuff.

"I think you'll have to see the nurse. She might want you to go to the hospital though, sorry."

"No, it's fine. I knew the moment your team stayed that I might get hit by you personally but I wanted to test you fairly. My ribs are killing me though."

"Can you stand?"

"Yes."

"Good, otherwise I would've had Naruto Henge some clones into a stretcher and made them carry you."

"Where did you learn that jutsu, Naruto?" the man asked the blond, who was watching in concern but beamed when receiving attention from one of his favorite people.

"Yuuki! She described it to me and I was able to do it after some training! -ttebayo!"

Iruka's gaze turned to her in confusion and she shrugged. "I dreamed about it so I probably saw someone do it once. I don't remember that happening but I know I didn't come up with it."

"Well I'll be damned." He smiled at them. "Congratulations on your victory. I'm going to get my ribs checked. You can do what you like until four."

"Alright!" cheered Yuuki, wrapping her arms around both boys' shoulders. "Let's all go out for lunch that _isn't_ ramen related!"

Naruto's little huff left her cackling with glee.

* * *

Naruto had suggested that their temporary team take their lunch up on the Hokage Monument. That way they could see the whole village and watch the rest of the Genin-to-be as they ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. And considering they had the best possible view, he knew it'd be good!

It had been a devious plan, but both had agreed to it easily, even if Shino was less enthusiastic over it.

While Naruto was often known to be bad at paying attention or picking up on social cues since he hadn't been taught about them, he wasn't stupid. He could tell that Shino really _liked_ Yuuki. He could also tell that Shikamaru was starting to like her the same way even if he didn't realize it. Shikamaru wasn't very knowledgeable on romance or women.

As such, Naruto wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. They were all his friends and he didn't want anyone's feelings to get hurt or any friendships to be ruined. And he doubted Yuuki would be at fault if something did happen.

Still, what to do? Should he leave it alone? Should he ask Choji and Hinata for some advice? There was no way they hadn't noticed anything going on.

"Look at poor Shikamaru!" Yuuki laughed suddenly, pointing somewhere below where they were seated on the head of the Nidaime Hokage. "He looks like he's being harassed! Just that look of begrudging acceptance has made this day even better! I feel so bad for the poor guy!"

From where they were sitting, they couldn't hear anything going on, but it was easy to tell with the stance Sakura had taken, that she was yelling at Shikamaru over something. And Shikamaru was doing his best to ignore her while Kiba was stuffing his face with a piece of steak he was sharing with Akamaru. They had stopped for a lunch break it seemed.

All humor faded from Yuuki the moment Sakura hit Shikamaru over the back of the head. Immediately, both Shino and Naruto moved to hold her down, knowing full well that she was defensive of her friends and getting physical was a big no-no in her book. Naruto was practically laying across her thighs and Shino had wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her in one place.

"No! I'm gonna go fucking deck her, lemme up!"

"Shikamaru can fight his own battles, Yuuki," said Naruto, feeling like the mature one for once. "He doesn't need you to always save him from everything. He needs to stand up for himself."

And he was proven right when Shikamaru retaliated by copying the movement exactly, leaving Sakura looking shocked that he would dare lay a hand on her. It seemed that Shikamaru had finally grown out of his weird belief that men should never hit women ever.

No one knew where he'd come up with that but he'd always been hesitant in Taijutsu when up against girls because it _'wasn't classy for a guy to clobber a girl'_. As if there was anything classy about the shinobi profession. However, they _were_ shinobi-in-training and there would be many enemy kunoichi he'd have to fight so Iruka warned him to get over it soon.

He finally had.

Yuuki calmed down some and blew out a long breath of air. "No wonder he didn't invite her to his birthday party."

Naruto had to agree. He still found Sakura really pretty, because she really was, but she was just… mean. He didn't like mean people. He hoped she'd change some day. It would be sad if she never went anywhere in life because of her poor attitude.

* * *

Shino was very much aware of Yuuki's infatuation with the Nara Heir. However, she hadn't done anything about it. At all. She simply walked up to him, told him she fancied him, and then did nothing more. Even after a year she had done nothing else!

Yuuki did not act like most people did whenever they were interested in someone. Ino and Sakura constantly harassed Uchiha Sasuke for dates, like all the other fangirls and went to unmentionable levels to get his attention, though they'd had to stop in recent weeks for some reason. And Naruto had asked Sakura out at least once a month for years despite her refusals being abusive and rude, and just getting refusals in general should have made him stop. Hinata longed to ask Naruto out but didn't have the courage to as of yet, but she still followed him around a lot and looked at him when he wasn't paying attention.

The most subtle crushes in their class were Yuuki, Sasuke, and Shino. As in to an extent the rest of the class knew there was interest save for the person of interest themselves. But they never did anything to make it more obvious. Naruto was unaware that Sasuke was obsessed with him and maybe that was for the better at present. Yuuki had no clue to Shino's feelings. And while Shikamaru knew Yuuki liked him, he never once looked harassed or annoyed in her presence meaning she was either stealthy or just preferred to keep to herself.

As she sat with the Nara all the damn time, Shino only really got her attention at lunch and some days she'd be all over the yard, eavesdropping on various conversations because she liked to know everyone's business in case it was useful knowledge later on. And honestly, if they were going to talk about personal problems outside in the schoolyard where anyone could come upon them, they shouldn't be angry that she was info gathering.

He had a plan. February 14th was a big day for romance in their village. He wasn't sure about other villages, but in Konoha the couples and potential couples exchanged gifts and candy with the one they most admired. It had been changed in the past decade from two days, one for girls and one for boys a month apart, because no one liked the pressure of having to return a gift to someone who gave you something. It made people anxious and the anxiety had gotten to too many people.

So now people just did everything in February and no one was expected to accept anything or reciprocate anything if they did not want to. And these days friendly gifts were included because friendships were just as important relationships as romances, so friends also deserved to be appreciated. Basically, it was a nice way to show people that you cared about them to some extent.

Yuuki hadn't ever participated in the event before. She never bought anyone anything and no one bought her anything. Of course that could just be because she didn't want to spend money she didn't have, but he didn't really know and hadn't ever asked her about it as bringing up someone's financial situation could be considered rude no matter how open they were about it with others.

Shino was going to give her something on February 14th. He wasn't exactly sure what it would be or what he would even say. He wasn't on her level yet with the courage to just announce his feelings. As Shino was often used to being turned away as a child, he'd become a bit sensitive to rejection and often mistook everything as rejection immediately before his mind caught up with the actual answer he'd received.

How she could come out with her feelings with a straight face and not fear judgment, he'd never understand. He might also be slightly jealous over it too.

Yuuki liked food more than anything else. It didn't matter what kind of food just that it was food. His mind ran through possibilities between sweet and savory options and wondered which would be easier to transport to school and which would last longer and leave a better impression.

Having a crush was so difficult! He didn't know how these things worked and he didn't want to talk to his parents about it because whenever he brought up Yuuki, even if just casually mentioning his friends, they'd get all giggly about it and it was embarrassing and very _not_ Aburame-like!

Maybe watermelon? Yuuki liked fruits and often complained about produce being so expensive but still being a necessity.

Maybe Naruto could help since he lived in the same building as her?

* * *

Yuuki groaned a placed her head on the desk, gaining his attention immediately.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting up a bit since she rarely did things like this without reason.

"It's nothing important, it's just that time."

"Huh?"

"You know, the time of the month!"

"Oh." Her menstrual cycle. While it was still a bit awkward to think about, he had to ask, "Is something wrong? Like out of the ordinary kind of wrong?"

She shook her head and he felt a little bit better then. "Nah, I've gained several kilograms, I'm bloated, the PCOS makes me bleed more than normal, the pain is ridiculous, and my hormones which are wackier than normal because of the PCOS, make me irritable. So I've avoided talking to people all day to avoid lashing out at them. That's why I get more quiet at a certain time every month."

That made perfect sense. And to think he hadn't realized it ever. Yuuki had revealed boldly that she'd been menstruating for years already yet he never picked up on it. He'd well and truly believed she was a boy.

Wow. He needed to work on his powers of observation or something.

"Do you need me to get you anything?" he offered, unsure of what to do.

She smiled, almost beaming but not quite with the pinched look on her face still present. "If you could acquire some meds to stop the pain and cramping from the nurse, that'd be much appreciated."

As Shikamaru moved to get up, he saw Choji hand over a small bag of chocolates. "My mom says chocolate helps her out when she's sick."

Yuuki giggled, which he was certain he'd never heard he do before in the few years he'd known her, and said, "Cocoa _can_ help an upset stomach. This isn't that kind of upset, but thanks anyway. I love chocolate and having something I like does make it a little better."

Somehow, Shikamaru willingly walked all the way to the nurse to get medication, received a pat on the cheek for '_being such a helpful young man_' and came back with a pill and a glass of water.

Befriending Yuuki changed even little things. Years ago he would never have bothered to do this for someone and would have complained about it while doing it. But now... he'd volunteered. That was a big deal.

He wondered what else had changed in the past few years.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING.**

-I've come to realize that Yuuki's perception of things is weird. When you get  
to her explanation of the Lazy Man's Load counting as working smarter and  
not harder, you'll see what I mean. It's my view on the subject and um... I  
now understand why my mom looks at me so weirdly when I try explaining  
it! I makes sense in my head, just when it comes out of my mouth!

* * *

"Happy birthday, Buggy!"

Yuuki placed a massive, brown mug that was too big for her to wrap her hands around, on Shino's section of his desk. In it was dark chocolate pudding that had been mixed with crushed chocolate cookies and whipped cream, then topped with a thick layer of crushed, chocolate cookies. Deep within were dozens of gummy bugs and sticking out, just as planned, were gummy worms.

On the mug in red lettering was **[#1 Bug]**.

There was a wide grin on her face as she felt clever for her thinking. She'd wanted to get him the mug shaped like a bug but for some reason there were none and the weeks leading up to Shino's birthday didn't see a return of them since they weren't '_popular_', so she settled for second best.

Of course she had to commission someone with a good hand to paint the words on the mug, but it was 500 Ryo well spent in her opinion.

"Thank you," the boy said quietly, looking at the gift that had a small layer of clear film over it to keep everything from spilling in case it ended up getting knocked over somehow. "...What is it?"

"A Dirt Cup."

"I've… never heard of such a thing before," he confessed, looking confused.

"I had a dream about it so I probably made it up. Pudding, cookies, and gummy bugs! If I had a mini planter and some sugar flowers it would look like something sold in a flower shop. Could even do a beach scene too but with different colors for pudding and cookies, and sea-related gummies used."

Shino's glasses did that little shine in the light thing they often did whenever he was thinking, and while she couldn't see behind the collar of his coat very well, she knew he was smiling.

"Thank you, Yuuki. I'll eat it during lunch."

The girl pumped a fist in victory and went to take her seat beside Shikamaru. All that was left was finding a gift for Choji! It would most likely be food related. They both shared a love for eating.

* * *

"Are you sure that _this_ is the thing you want to go out with? Not something more manageable?"

Naruto beamed. "Yeah! If I get it all done without anyone noticing who did it, it will be the official proclamation of my amazing amazingness and how much everyone else sucks!"

Well that was true. Painting the biggest monument in Konoha in broad daylight was a tough job and he seemed determined to see his plan through. If he succeeded in his goal too, it would mean that the shinobi part of the population really needed to step up their training and receive a demotion. If a kid who wasn't even a shinobi yet could manage to pull one over on them, then it _would_ be a sad day in history and an interesting tale to tell once he was Hokage.

Proving their general incompetence was going to get him in so much trouble though. _If_ he was caught. That was the most important bit.

"And the execution?" she asked.

The blond leaned in closer so the details could remain private. "Well... the sun rises from the east and shines across the monument from left to right. My choice of clothing is useful because in the sunlight it's difficult to differentiate between me and the sun! It'll also allow me to use the glare of the sun to hide what's being done to the monument until it's completely covered and I'm long gone."

"But doesn't the sun fully cover the village in half an hour? You think you can do all that work you're planning in that time frame? The monument's huge." It would literally take hours of work for him to get the desired effect and _she_ certainly wouldn't be able to help. Stealth wasn't her area of expertise in any way and she'd get him caught immediately. Maybe Hinata would be able to help him since she could be a lookout with her Byakugan?

The blond sent her an unimpressed look, making her feel as if she'd asked a very stupid question. Yuuki mentally went over what she said, but still didn't come up with anything wrong.

"Kage Bunshin, Yuuki," Naruto sighed with a fond shake of the head. "I can use clones to help me out and they'll leave no traces behind."

Oh right! Cool. Yeah, that would totally solve the problem in no time at all if he had like a thousand copies of himself out there doing the same thing.

"If you pull this off I will be impressed. Probably enough to get you a bowl of ramen."

His eyes lit up. "And I'll be in class the whole time so no one could accuse me without looking crazy! -ttebayo!"

True. He'd gotten so much better at planning out his hijinks ever since they'd become friends. All because she insisted on proper planning ahead of time so less work and effort were necessary in the moment of truth. She was a firm believer in '_work smart, not hard_'. Why do extra work when it was unnecessary?

Of course, some might say this contradicted her belief in the **Lazy Man's Load**, but she disagreed. In her mind, making ten trips for groceries was extra work. Carrying all of her groceries at once made the trip home two times longer than it would normally be, but which was objectively better?

A single trip one way that took twelve minutes and left her arms sore for a few hours afterward, or ten trips back and forth, where the distance took six minutes each time? From the shop to her apartment was six minutes exactly at a speed-walk, and the trip would have to be repeated nineteen times if she broke up the grocery amount evenly.

The answer was obvious. Twelve minutes was better than a total of one hundred and fourteen minutes. The **Lazy Man's Load** therefore counted as working smarter and not harder. And in this essay she would-

* * *

Shikamaru lugged the bag his mother had given him that morning, along his way to the Academy. It was February 14th and it was that time of year. He prepared himself for the screeching of fangirls and fanboys and the wave of second-hand embarrassment that would come from watching Uchiha Sasuke once again refuse the offers of his fangirls, and then their reactions to such refusals.

It was mortifying being in the same class with people who acted like that. And they didn't even know the Uchiha! At all! Shikamaru, who wasn't even his friend, knew Sasuke better!

Professing to be 'd_esperately in love_' with someone for years and going to great lengths to plan your fictional future wedding down to the letter, and _still_ not knowing that they hated sweet foods and didn't want to date anyone until their life goal was accomplished, was one of the most embarrassing things the fangirls did.

Apart from the Uchiha's stalkers, Shikamaru at least knew his friends were chill and that they wouldn't be a drag to deal with.

His mother had handed him a large bag and in it were individual little baggies with names on them. "For your friends," she told him with a smile. "Tailored to each of them specifically based on what they like most."

Yuuki had said she'd be baking cookies to share and Choji had promised to bring in something from his family's restaurant. Hinata was going to handle the drinks which she promised would be great, and Shino promised to bring the utensils. That left Naruto who hadn't known what to bring since he was the poorest out of all of them. Eventually, the blond settled for bringing some of the prototypes of the board games Yuuki had recently come up with so they could play at lunch.

Apparently they'd be the testers to see if the ideas she'd come up with recently were marketable and worth handing over to the big men in the big chairs.

Choji appeared at his side on the walk over, already eating some kind of snack. "Mom sent me with some sushi and dango. It's taking everything in me to not eat anything yet. So I brought ten bags of chips to distract myself with."

Shikamaru couldn't help but snort fondly. "Never change."

The class was loud, and walking in showed nearly every girl had put in the extra effort today. Even Hinata, who was making eyes at Naruto, who was gazing at Sakura, who was drooling over Sasuke, who was staring at the blackboard with a look of utter suffering and resignation on his face. It was so pathetic that it was kind of funny! Every now and then he would chance a glance at Naruto, but it would be mistaken as him looking at the nearest fangirl and the whole group would explode in giggles.

Yuuki was… Yuuki. She didn't put much effort into anything if it wasn't absolutely required. And Shikamaru could respect that because he felt the same to an extent. She was sitting in her usual seat, knees pulled up to her chest so she could pull her sweatshirt over them to stretch it out. She had promised she'd be getting a new wardrobe upon graduation and told all of them to stop worrying about how her weight was going up and down and so long as she got her medication soon she'd be fine.

"Hey! You were almost late today," greeted Yuuki, legs stretching out so she could cross her ankles on the top of their desk. Her poor sweatshirt's elasticity was completely worn out by now and looked flimsy. She had grown into it completely so it no longer covered her legs. Meaning when she was sitting, it would slide up said mesh-covered legs, exposing the _very_ short black shorts she wore underneath, and her pale thighs.

The Nara blinked hard to force himself to look away. Troublesome hormones. Even he was susceptible to them. He wasn't emotionally ready for that yet.

"I almost forgot the snacks for lunch," he said with a yawn. "My mom had to catch up with me, but she wasn't annoying about it."

"You'd forget your own ass if it wasn't attached."

"Maybe," he conceded.

It wasn't his fault that he wasn't an early riser. It took forever for him to shake off his somnolence and he refused to feel guilty for it. That was just how his body worked.

"Hope you like sugar cookies. I made pink ones to get into the mood and they're covered in white frosting."

Ugh! Pink. It wasn't like it was a bad color or anything, it was just the one of the ones pushed so much when it came to romance. Most of the girls were wearing it. Today was the day for dresses and perfume and lots of makeup that weren't usually pulled out any other day of the years. The room smelled terrible with all the clashing scents from the different fangirls and fanboys. Kiba and Akamaru were wearing scent-blocking face masks just to survive in it all, it was sad.

It never made sense to him how people only put in effort during this one day a year. Grand romantic gestures saved for a commercial holiday mean to beat money out of consumers. Shouldn't people be romantic during _all_ days of the year? Shouldn't effort be put in _all_ the time? It didn't always have to be honeymoon-level to be considered good and to be appreciated.

Iruka walked into the room, interrupting Shikamaru's thoughts as he held up a clipboard. "Settle down!" he called. "We're coming upon the graduation exam in a couple weeks. This means a massive review is ahead of us to prepare you all. I would very much like it if you all passed."

Shikamaru groaned. He absolutely hated end of the year reviews more than anything else. What a drag.

* * *

"You have to go and give Ino her gift," Choji told Shikamaru when their group settled for lunch out in the yard.

Yuuki snorted when the boy sent his best friend a look that explained just how he felt about such a task.

"Your mom will be even more troublesome than usual if you don't. She's going to be our teammate after all."

Shikamaru groaned and sprawled out even more on the ground. "I didn't ask to be her delivery boy. Can't someone else do it for me?"

The moment his eyes landed on Yuuki, she laid down next to him and said, "I don't like you _that_ much, my guy. I would probably do it if it was someone else but not for her or Sakura. I don't like interacting with them and would prefer to keep to myself in their presence lest I say something incredibly rude and burn those bridges to the ground and below, so no bridges could be built on it again."

Naruto jumped up. "I'll do it! If she throws them at me or refuses to touch them because I touched them can I have them?"

"Mah! Sure."

As Naruto ran off, Yuuki looked over and asked quietly, "Would she _really_ do that just because _he_ was the one handing them over?" And did Yuuki need to be ready to bitch slap a clan kid? Because she would definitely do it! It would effectively burn that bridge she mentioned but for a friend's sake she would do it!

"Ino-san is self-centered most of the time and extremely judgmental. The likelihood of her doing such is higher than sixty percent. Why? Because she has yet to experience any kind of adversity in life that would cause her to wake up from the dream she lives in," remarked Shino without hesitation before Shikamaru could even answer.

When Neither Choji or Shikamaru protested Shino's assertions, Yuuki shrugged. Not her problem anyway. She wasn't going to be on the blonde's team in the future and whatever interaction they'd have would be minimal at best.

"Though to be fair, she _might_ be changing a little," said Choji after a minute of consideration. "We had to have a meeting about behaving properly as Clan Heirs are supposed to, and how our actions individually will affect the families we have alliances with. Ino got a stern talking to, but we were _all_ given a talk in the end. So I'm expecting her attitude to get better."

Naruto returned then, empty-handed but looking sad. "She only took them 'cause your mom made 'em. Made a big deal over you not delivering them personally and me being me."

What a bitch. Yet still not as much as Sakura was. Ino at least didn't lay hands on Naruto. That was her only positive.

"N-Naruto-kun, I'll shall mine with you," Hinata said, holding out the bag Shikamaru had brought for her, face pink with embarrassment.

"It's okay, Hinata! They each got stuff we like personally and I don't want you to miss out! But thanks for offering! You're awesome! -ttebayo!"

If her face got any more red in the next minute, Hinata would probably pass out on them. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened, but usually she was more subtle with it.

In the lull of the conversation, Shino reached out and placed a scroll on Yuuki's lap. "You expressed interest in Chakra Sensing in a small tangent last week so I located a scroll on it for you in my clan's library."

"Thanks!" She wasn't a Chunin yet and therefore couldn't get into the proper section at the library! This would be useful in furthering her plans! "You're the best!" She leaned over to wrap an arm around his shoulders in a little side hug. "I'll take good care of it and learn as quickly as I can so I can give it back."

Was she imagining the glare on Shikamaru's face? They were friends, so there was no need for glaring and negative feelings between them. Was her vision going?

* * *

"I reiterate, the requirements for the practical exams are as follows: proficiency at **Konoha Sign Language** and **Morse Code**, **Henge**, **Kawarimi**, **Tree Walking**, **Water Walking**, a **Bunshin** of some sort, **Shuriken** and **Kunai** precision, **Genin-Level Taijutsu **forms, and **Level 2 Chakra Nature** exercises," said Iruka as he gestured to the black board.

Ever since the introduction of Mission Prep, the Academy's expectations of their Genin had grown a lot. Sure, many other classes were taught as well, but those would be the most immediately helpful upon graduation and therefore were considered the most important.

Other things had been changed as well, outside of the Academy structure. No longer did the village do three Genin teams per graduation cycle. Now it was as many as they could pass. And if some showed more promise they might have a chance at an Apprenticeship under a Jonin-level shinobi.

Personally, he felt it was better this way.

Before he could continue on, the door to the room slammed open and in rushed a haggard-looking Chunin that Iruka was only somewhat familiar with. "Iruka-san! Come quick! Naruto's gone and sprayed graffiti all over the Hokage Monument!"

As one, the entire class turned to look at the blond who was sitting right there in front of them all, looking offended at being accused of such a thing.

But Iruka knew Naruto very well and knew how his mind worked. And also knowing that Naruto could now be in a hundred places at once doing who knows what at the time, he was certain Naruto had indeed done such a thing to a national landmark.

While Iruka could have ratted him out there and there, he decided that he was too impressed and would let the boy have his fun this time.

"And how could it possibly be Naruto?" he chose to say instead. "He's been in class since before homeroom. Did you catch him in the act perchance?"

The Chunin obviously wasn't expecting his word to be challenged as he stood there, mouth agape and looking mortified. "B-but, I mean, who else could've? He's the only- it _couldn't_ be anyone else!"

Iruka found the situation humorous but kept a straight face. "So someone painted the monument without anyone seeing them despite how long it would no doubt take them, and you want me to believe that a child who isn't even a Genin, accomplished this task under the noses of our elite Anbu?"

It was impressive that Naruto didn't even fidget in annoyance at those words. His self-control had improved exponentially.

The Chunin flushed and sighed. "I suppose not. But what should I tell Hokage-sama?"

"I don't know, but it won't involve my student who hasn't been tardy once this term."

With no one taking his side, the Chunin took his leave, casting a glare of irritation at the blond in the middle row. Iruka waited until his footsteps left the floor as a whole before turning to Naruto and smirking. He said nothing, but the pre-teens and teens all noticed his demeanor and turned to the prankster who was smiling innocently in return.

"I'm sure there's _nothing_ that could possibly implicate the person who managed such a feat," said Iruka with exaggerated sweetness. "It would be a shame that all that effort would be wasted by an amateur mistake such as leaving behind any tools."

A grin. "Oh, I'm sure the culprit was too much of a tactical genius for that, sensei! We shouldn't worry about them! I mean, they must be super talented if none of the shinobi noticed anything until they were long gone! They'll be fine! I have faith in them! -ttebayo!"

Naruto had his moments of utter brilliance and Iruka felt privileged to have taught him and watched him grow.

* * *

"Hello! How can I help you?"

Yuuki stood uncertainly in the doorway, holding the card that TenTen had given her for the shop.

TenTen, who had been at the counter but was fiddling with something, finally looked up, and grinned. "Hey! It's you! Finally coming to get some weapons?"

"I'm graduating soon," was Yuuki's response.

"We can set you up with an order and once you get your hitai-ate, you can come and pick it up that day if you'd like."

That was nice. "Sure. I was wondering if your shop can take a commission that's a bit abnormal compared to the usual shonobi weapons?"

A sketchpad was pulled out and plopped on the counter. "What to you have in mind?" TenTen asked as she grabbed a charcoal pencil from a cup by the register.

"Hatchets."

The older girl frowned in confusion and gave her a look. "For real? As in a smaller verse of an ax?"

"Yes."

"As a shinobi weapon?"

"Yeah. The uh... the orphanage wasn't a place capable of paying for entertainment for the kids, so we did what we could amongst ourselves. We had some hatchets and we'd have competitions to get out of chores, on who could throw them best. Turns out I'm really good at them, better than kunai or shuriken, and thought maybe they'd be a good choice, you know?"

Tenten hummed in consideration and asked. "Got any ideas on how they should look?"

"Nothing extravagant please, I don't need them to be pretty. I need them to do their job and not break. Chakra conducive because I have Katon Chakra and that would be a hell of an attack. And holes in the handles."

"_Holes_?"

"Yeah, I'm working on my chakra control again. I've finished the kinds taught in the Academy and a friend and I are doing Chakra Threads now, like Suna shinobi do for their puppets. My friend is a lot better than I am at it, but I had this idea of when I'm better and won't need ninja wire, that I could used the threads to keep the hatchets all linked and I could use the threads to retrieve them from great distances without be having to get them myself and thereby not putting myself in danger."

Hinata was already far better at Chakra Threads than Yuuki. She was even trying to tweak them in her own way to make them more offensive. The ideas she had come up with made Yuuki not want to get in a battle with her if at all possible in the future.

"Sounds cool. We could do that. Let me know what you think of this basic design I've thought up."

The next several minutes were spent discussing weight, Yuuki's preferred grip, and whether she was left or right handed. She also added the standard shinobi pack of ten shuriken and ten kunai to the order as well since they were a necessity.

"You can place half of the payment now and pay the rest upon pick up," said TenTen. "Or we can break it up into weekly payments if you'd like."

Yeah, it went a lot better than she thought it would. "Can we do weekly payments?"

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Hello, people!** COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING **and** HINTS OF SASUNARU.**

**7,000 Ryo** = about **$638.**

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS!**

* * *

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, Kakashi, you have to take a team this year. You'll be getting the team with both Sasuke-san and Naruto."

Kakashi grumbled but didn't protest. He knew it had been coming some time soon, he'd just hoped he could wait it out for longer. Giving him his sensei's son was the smartest move though. And he supposed having the last Uchiha was smart too seeing as Kakashi was the only other person he could learn practical use of the Sharingan from.

"Don't be that way, Kakashi," the old Kage chided. "Your team shows much promise in various areas. And because of the Academy's curriculum being brought up to date and improved upon, you won't have to take the time to teach them how to walk on water or how to learn their Chakra Natures."

Well that certainly was a bonus. He could just throw team-building exercises and jutsu scrolls at them. That'd be nice. Kakashi was a genius, but the problem that many didn't realize, that came with being a genius, was that most geniuses weren't that good at teaching others. Being good at something didn't mean he'd be good at teaching that something to a child.

He was very aware of his own faults and that was just one of many.

"You team also have an even build for Chakra Nature that could make for some interesting combination jutsu in the future," the Hokage added, looking down at a piece of paper. "Sakura-san has Suiton, Sasuke-san has Raiton and minor Katon, and Naruto has Futon and minor Raiton."

Kakashi's mind immediately provided various options in battle for those. He knew jutsu from each of the Natures so it wouldn't be difficult to make the Genin learn them. Especially if their Chakra Control exercises had improved as much as Gai insisted they did.

So maybe it would be better than he assumed it would be.

* * *

"See? Even though you didn't graduate early because you want to be on Sakura's team, I appreciate you waiting."

Naruto flushed. "I haven't had a crush on Sakura in forever, Yuuki! I may have failed the first two graduation exams that I had taken in an attempt to try and impress her, but the other one was purely because I realized half-way through that I wanted to just hang out with my friends before we have work getting in the way. So no, I did not fail the last one for Sakura. I just like looking at her now."

She pinched his cheek. "You're very sweet regardless of your tastes. Now go and kick this exam's ass."

"YATTA!"

"Didn't he suck at the Bunshin?" asked Shikamaru as he leaned back, his hitai-ate on the table in front of him because he refused to put it on yet. Apaprently he'd wanted it somewhere that made sense and didn't get in his way.

"I taught him a better type of Bunshin. Turns out he's got too much chakra so illusionary clones are just too hard. More chakra intensive Bunshin are easier because so long as he has a good imagination he could load them with however much chakra he wants. More chakra means longer lasting Bunshin or stronger elemental attacks for the elemental types."

"When did this happen?"

"A year and a half ago I guess. I've learned another type of Bunshin and made him learn another because I figured they'd be more useful in the future."

"Here I thought you were as lazy as me," the boy said with a yawn.

"Oh I am, I'm just employing use of the **Lazy Man's Load**. As in I'm doing more work now to avoid wasting my time later when I have a Jonin sensei on my ass. This way they'll have to teach me something worthwhile instead of relegating me to meaningless personal time so they can get out of doing their job. I've even got ahead on my Chakra's Shape Manipulation and can shape it decently well by now."

Choji paused in his crunching and blinked up at the ceiling in confusion. "I honestly think that even as one of the laziest students here, you might be the hardest working person in the class, Yuuki."

"Nah!" she said, shaking her head. "You haven't seen Naruto and his wack ass healing factor that lets him have weird stamina and low pain receptors. That's true hard work since he never knows when to actually stop. I like to stay in the middle for physical fitness. All the work I do, I can do while sitting down. You won't get me moving if I don't absolutely have to."

Naruto was the superior hard worker in their class because he wasn't naturally talented and had to work extra hard to be so good at what he did. The blond had taken all the time in the world to hone his own skills and discover what he excelled at. People like Sasuke and Hinata had great benefits on their sides to be so ahead of everyone else. Naruto, being a clanless orphan who was poor, had done very well for himself despite how many setbacks he faced in life.

"Speaking of not moving, I made this awesome tool that I think could be very useful. Now while I had it in mind to help me not have to get up and walk around my kitchen, I have come to realize that it's a pretty ingenious invention that could really help disabled people out!" She pulled out one of her sealing scrolls. All important things were kept on her person at all times now to protect against theft these days. She didn't trust the manager of the complex and for many reasons she might get into at another time.

"I got a long ass tree branch that I hollowed out and using some springs and wires I got from an old toaster I disassembled, and two smaller sticks that I stabbed with rubber. I have created the Extendable Arm." The tool was released from the scroll and while it was obviously was a draft model, it was still nice in her opinion.

"The bits on the end act like claws and can grab things a good distance away if you squeeze this part right here. If I had access to better materials it would be retractable with a crank to bring the clutched item in close. So far this is what I have and I can open my fridge from the other side of my kitchen with it. And if I put a rag on it, I could clean the ceiling and the parts of the walls I can't reach even with a chair."

Shikamaru shook his head. "I don't know how you keep coming up with these things. My dad might know how to help with this too. The Nara are involved in the medical business of the village and get a say in a lot of things after all."

"Oh, yeah!"

It was nice to have friends who took her wacky ideas seriously. Especially as she had no explanation for where the ideas came from or how frequently they came.

How did 'dreams' and 'visions' sound to normal people after all?

* * *

Yuuki's name put her at the very end of the class list. With no surname of her own she was just put all the way at the bottom and forced to wait while everybody else took their turn and got their hitai-ate. She wasn't worried that she'd fail, it was more of the fact that everyone watched as the very last student went into a separate room to complete her practicals.

First it was the weapons which she aced perfectly and then, without moving to get them herself, she extended her hand and sent out a chakra thread to wind through the holes of the weapons. It wasn't a very thin thread, could probably be called a rope at present, but it was decently done. When the end of the strand returned to her palm, she gave a good yank and all the weapons slipped free and returned, dangling from an invisible string in her hand. Like light strands that were used for decoration.

She hadn't perfected this method yet but was doing pretty well. Hinata had already gotten it down and could make several threads at a single time from each fingertip. Yuuki liked to think that for her level, along with not having a Kekkei Genkai on her side, she was doing well.

Iruka whistled. "Well done. Now make a Bunshin, use the Henge, and then Kawarimi with something."

She ran through the signs for the Katon Bunshin and blew out a small puff of flame that grew with the chakra she loaded into it and morphed into a perfect copy of herself. The Bunshin then transformed into Naruto, and Yuuki swapped places with the copy instantly.

Iruka made some notes on his clipboard. "Where did you learn an elemental Bunshin?"

Yuuki sent the man a darling smile that probably looked weird on her bland face. "Ask me no questions, I tell you no lies, sensei."

The man rolled his eyes and gestured to the large tree off to the side of the practice area. "Demonstrate your chakra control by climbing that tree without hands. I then expect a roundoff while keeping perfect control."

Ugh! Exercise.

She girded her loins and got it over with.

"Now step into the provided pool. I'd like to see a roundoff, a back handspring, and then a cartwheel. The less water you get on yourself the better the score."

As expected, she came out totally dry. Chakra control was her area of expertise. After years of forcing herself to get good because her only job options involved perfect control, she better damn well be good at it.

"Last is a quick spar. You have three minutes to land a hit on me. I will be fighting at Genin Level. No chakra punches may be used. This is so I can grade your style and forms, not your strength."

One Vs One matches were so annoying. She was decent at Taijutsu but she just didn't like doing it. She wasn't the best but she wasn't the worst and if she actually used chakra in application she would technically be the best in class, so why try all that hard?

She rushed the man, their hands meeting frantically as she moved to dodge or redirect she strikes. The clapping and slapping noises were jarring to the ear. He defended his middle very well, so her best bet was a hit somewhere less defended. She tended to go for the middle a lot and he knew that from grading her spars for years.

He didn't say where she had to hit so even a toe would count. And just because Yuuki wasn't allowed to punch him with chakra didn't mean she couldn't kick him with it. Or that she couldn't use chakra to speed herself up.

With a quick burst for good measure, she slipped into his guard with a raised fist, just as he brought his arms up to shield his torso. In that split second she whirled and kicked him hard in the shin, making him stumble a bit and grab his leg. "Time!"

1 Minute 35 Seconds. Not the best time on the list by a long shot, but also not the worst by a long shot. That was good in her opinion.

Iruka straightened, wincing when he moved his leg. "You did well. It's obvious you passed, so you can take the last hitai-ate, I just need to calculate your scores and class placement if you'll give me a moment."

"Sure." Where the hell was she going to wear it? Not on the forehead because it looked tacky as hell and she didn't like the blue of the fabric. A headband would be nice. Some of the other girls were doing that. And her spiky locks could block out the color of the blue nicely. Or maybe a necklace? If she removed the fabric entirely and threaded a cord or something through the holes? Yeah, that would be better. Less of a chance at it flying off that way if it was fastened on. Fabric ties were less trustworthy than metal ones.

Now if only she could get her hands on some kunoichi grade shoes. The black would go quite nicely with her mesh and hair. And she would be aiming for black in her new outfit too.

"Well done!" Iruka man said with a lighthearted grin, the scar on his face wrinkling. "Combined with your theoretical exam score you've come out in fourth place overall in the class. Shurikenjutsu was 10/10 for both weapons. 10/10 for all the Ninjutsu showed with an extra point on the Bunshin for having an elemental one. A 10/10 each on Tree and Water Walking. A 6/10 for Taijutsu as it still isn't seamless enough to flow just yet. But if we were to factor in your chakra usage it would be an 8/10 for the possible damage you can inflict even with impaired kata."

That was all pretty good.

"Your theoretical work came out to a 198/200. You only missed two questions and that was because you mixed up the answers on a multiple choice section. You tied Hyuga Hinata and Yamanaka Ino for Second Place of overall class ranking, right behind Haruno Sakura who was in First Place. You did a splendid job and I'm honored to have gotten the chance to know you."

He patted her spiky head, his smile turning nostalgic.

"Thanks for not being a biased asshole," she told him frankly. "That's why you're the fave."

Any sputtering of embarrassment was left in the dust as she rejoined her classmates, swinging the hitai-ate around. "I've done it!" she announced. "Bring on the missions 'cause now I got bills to pay for fuck sake!"

* * *

As she had been promising for ages, Yuuki finally got off her ass and went clothes shopping for a new wardrobe. Her entire closet was just filled with things that did not fit any longer so the best thing to do was donate everything but a single outfit for when she did household chores, and buy some new clothes.

The same shop she preferred was her destination and the lady at the counter sent her a smile when she came in. "Fresh graduate?"

"Yep. I need a lot of things but news bras and underwear are a must right now over everything." They were honestly digging into her skin. Red lines on her sides and thighs that burned. She'd made it work long enough but now she was an adult in the eyes of Konoha law, and she had to dress appropriately.

"The limit it 7,000 Ryo for this."

She got measured for both underwear and bras, and found out that she'd gone up two cup sizes since the last time she'd had to get bras. She was about to be thirteen and had weight issues thanks to wacky hormones, so it wasn't that shocking. Hinata was like a step behind her, and Ino was right behind Hinata. She decided ages ago that breasts were annoying and grew way too fast for her liking. She gained weight and they got bigger, she lost that weight and they didn't shrink at all!

The sports bras she got were heavy duty and she was warned against doubling up on them because that could hurt her still-growing body. Which sucked.

Yuuki and the sales associate proceeded to rummage through the clothing available for shinobi. Yuuki's only description was '_black and white'_. They were a good combination and wouldn't clash.

Mesh armor was a necessity for extra protection, but she was sticking with the sleeveless version of the body suit now. The organs needed the most protection. The only reason she wasn't limiting herself to leotard version was because the mesh looked cool against the legs.

She found a good shirt/skort set that were made of the same, stretchy material that would be useful while her weight went up and down. The half-shirt was high-collared and sleeveless, with black trimming around the white of the fabric. The skort was black, high-waisted, and reached mid-thigh. Basically it was a pair of black shorts with a black piece of cloth sewn to the left side and then pulled across the front and hooked to the right side by three white buttons at the top.

A pair of fingerless gloves in the same color as the skort, were added next. They came with leather straps around the wrists to keep them in place. The buckles were silver.

Yuuki decided to forgo sandals entirely and got a nice pair of black, studded, ankle boots. The heel was short and chucky and added 2 cm to her height. They looked awesome!

The bulk of her purchase was actually the new coat she got. It was white, double-breasted and had a wide, furred collar. The buttons were black and the fur was a light shade of brown. The best part was that it had pockets! Not just random buttons placed to _look_ like it had pockets! Also, the sleeves stopped at the forearms and cinched in a bit so they wouldn't move up.

Her new wardrobe was for ease of movement and was meant to make her life easier overall.

She really liked her new style. And it was beneficial that the shoes would compliment the studded earrings stretching up her right ear.

She couldn't wait until her friends could see her new threads. Then they'd finally get off her ass over it!

* * *

Two weeks of nothing to do but train. Naruto never thought he'd actually miss his time in the Academy. But it had been a schedule to follow and there was never a dull day with all the drama of being shinobi-in-training. He got to see his friends every day too and it had made everything so much brighter!

The one thing to do was formally register as shinobi. That meant paperwork and getting their registration numbers and stuff. Yuuki had talked him out of painting his face with war paint, which sucked. _He_ felt it would have struck fear into the hearts of his enemies. She said he was too small to be anything but laughed at if he did such.

And while he was aware of the fact that he was the shortest of the new Genin graduates, that didn't mean he appreciated people bringing it up! He'd grow! Some times in the future he was going to be taller than his classmates! He just... had to keep faith.

Still though… Yuuki was a lot taller than him. It could be because she was seven months older than him, but seeing as others who had been born before him, were still taller than him, he knew he couldn't excuse it that way. Maybe it was in his genetics to be short?

No! He promised himself he'd think of it positively!

Ichiraku Ramen gifted him with a large serving of ramen for his graduation present. It had been super awesome and while it wasn't enough to fill him, it was something that held meaning. The old man and Ayame had smiled upon him and told him they were proud of him and '_knew he would do it_'. It warmed his heart.

Naruto couldn't waste money as much as he wanted because he had to budget. With Yuuki's help of course. Now that he was an adult in the law of ninja, he didn't get the orphan stipend any longer and had already gotten his first rent bill. It had been waiting on his table when he'd gotten home right after getting his hitai-ate too! They didn't waste any time!

Being an adult wasn't fun when it was ruined by annoying responsibilities.

In his heart of hearts, Naruto was jealous that his classmates never knew the fear of not having food or not having a place to sleep. Of having to skip two meals a day. Being so blind to the world outside their cozy homes and families that they didn't know that people in their own village were going without all the time!

It wasn't that he would wish misfortune on anyone… he just wished there was someone other than Yuuki in his life who understood the exact lengths the poor had to go to just to keep on surviving. And it annoyed him that someone poor, like Yuuki, was doing more for charity than any of the wealthy citizens. Yuuki was literally donating half of the profits she made from her own creations, to charities, when she was poor and could make better use of the money for herself! Especially now that she no longer had so much money coming in every month!

It just didn't seem right, the system in Konoha.

Having the Hokage on his side meant nothing if he couldn't even get the man's attention as often as he'd like. Being Hokage meant having an important job that needed all of your concentration and Naruto didn't want to get in the way of that. It had taken many years for him to fully understand just what the old man had to do every day, but he got it now.

It was okay to be jealous. It was not okay to be cruel because of it. Yuuki had taught him that. She'd used Sasuke's Fanclub as an example and it had made sense then!

"What are you doing here?"

Naruto whirled around, finding none other than Sasuke standing at the edge of the Training Ground, staring at him blankly.

He shrugged. "Thinking. Training. Plotting. You?"

"Surprisingly, I've been doing something similar," the Uchiha stated. He didn't insult Naruto or mock him for training. Sasuke hadn't been like that in years. Not since the massacre.

Naruto looked away, feeling awkward over where his thoughts had gone. He didn't like thinking about that night and what it put Sasuke through. Yuuki'd had to explain what was common knowledge and then what her assumptions were based on circumstantial evidence. He didn't like any of it and he tried to distract Sasuke by being loud whenever possible.

The fact that Sasuke was so devoted to this ambition of his that he refused to enjoy himself in any other way, made Naruto's heart hurt. Like he couldn't just be happy now and then. But a distraction was something Naruto could be!

"Want to train?" Sasuke offered, still staring him down evenly.

Naruto blinked and nodded as he thought back to all the times they'd sparred outside of class times and flushed a bit. He was going to end up being pinned a lot. That was Sasuke's go-to move when fighting Naruto. He didn't know why since Sasuke never did it with anyone else!

* * *

Shikamaru looked up from his shogi board to find Yuuki standing at the doorway leading to the engawa. His mother must have let her in since she wasn't wearing shoes on the tatami covered floor.

"Hey," she said, tipping the box in her hands as a sign of greeting.

"Do you need help with that?"

She proceeded to place it down, meaning, no, she didn't need assistance. "I wanted to test this out with you. Naruto does not have the patience for this kind of game and I figured you and your dad would be the best chances I have immediately, at seeing a reaction. Hinata's busy and I doubt her clan would want someone like me coming around."

Yuuki proceeded to pull the lid off her box and reveal a piece of square cardboard that had a pattern of black and white squares of paper glued to it. She then pulled out a small bag full of erasers that had strangely cut shapes of paper sticking out of them. "A game of strategy," she told him while setting the pieces up in a way that vaguely reminded him of shogi.

"Here is the introduction, the instructions, and the rules," she added, tossing a small packet of information his way, with incredibly small writing that also reminded him of the one he had to learn for shogi.

"Chesu," he said carefully, looking up to see if his pronunciation was correct.

She nodded. "It's somewhat like shogi, but also not with various differences. Chesu would be like the beginner's version I guess you could say. Start off all the baby Nara with Chesu and when they've mastered it, then you move them on to shogi. It could help train up their minds ahead of time."

As he flicked through the book, Shikamaru wondered just how she managed to get all of these thoughts out. The maneuvers were different. The pawns were different. The way the pieces captured others were different. Overall though, it was like a more simple version of shogi but that didn't mean it was less interesting.

He was fascinated by the Bishops and Knights the most though. Their movement patterns interested him the most.

"Walk me through a game," he told her.

She beamed. "Thanks!"

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Hello, people!** NEW COVER ART BY: **Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON!**

-On Tumblr I said I wasn't updating anything until the new year.  
I had written a 70K oneshot in 6 days and my wrists were killing  
me.

**TAGS for this Chapter:** **SWEARING **and** HINTS OF SASUNARU.**

**12,000 Ryo** = about **$111.**

* * *

"Okay, but what if I added some colorful streaks of red to my hair? That'd be okay, right?" Naruto asked, pouting his hardest at his best friend. They were in her kitchen and there was ramen being cooked on the stove. Yuuki said she'd try and learn for his sake and he was there to test it out when it was finished.

Yuuki gave him an assessing once over and shrugged. "Dyeing your hair wouldn't look bad. It's the whole warpaint thing that isn't a good idea. Trust me, one day you'll understand why it's such a bad idea."

"Do you think I'd look good with _red_ hair?"

She looked him over again and shrugged. "I mean, you might have to get it professionally done. Your hair is such an intense shade of blond that you might end up looking orange instead of red. I'm not sure you'd want that. Unless… you _do_?"

He had to think about it for a moment. How would he look if he had orange hair?

And that was when the light-bulb hit him over the head! He could easily find out how he'd look!

Naruto crossed his fingers and made two Kage Bunshin. Both proceeded to use the Henge simply to give the illusion that they had different hair colors. One red and the other orange.

Together, he and Yuuki stared at them, determining which Naruto overall looked better.

Even he had to admit… the orange hair would make it too much orange. He already had his jumpsuit that he'd had for a long time. And the hair being the same color wouldn't go very well with his eyes. It would just look tacky.

But the red! Naruto could definitely be a redhead! Despite his tanned skin, it went pretty well with his clothing choices and the shape and color of his eyes! "I want the red! I want streaks of red! It'd be so cool!"

Yuuki nodded. "You sure? You can't go back once it's done and will have to wait months for your hair to grow out again if you want to cut it off to go back to normal."

"I'm sure," he nodded firmly. "I think it'd be a nice change of my own since I'm not buying a new wardrobe for myself or anything."

She patted his back. "The sales are already booming from the games, don't worry. I have many more for us to work through. I think the civilians were looking for new forms of entertainment because I've been seeing them everywhere! I guess they're good for bonding time with friends and family. The company is distributing them to shops in other villages, towns, and cities. In other nations, even."

Woah! That was a lot of people. Konoha had a few million people of its own. Like six or seven. He forgot the exact number since they'd learned that kind of stuff in their Second Year at the Academy. But other places were bigger. Tanzaku Gai and Otafuku Gai were almost as large and they were just normal cities in Hi no Kuni, used as tourist attractions!

"As the money comes in, things will begin changing, you'll see," she assured him. "In the meantime, I would like your assistance in this new game I'm calling Shujutsu."

He frowned as he thought about it. "As in… like, operating on a _person_?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "It came to mind last night while going over the requirements in the Med Courses at the hospital! The first page has a diagram of the human body and all I kept seeing was the same thing on a game board and all the places where major organs are or important bones are, were hollowed out with mini pieces representing that spot themselves, inside the holes. And each hole is outlined in metal because you have to use a pair of tweezers made of the same metal, to carefully go in and extract the item. It you end up touching the metals, they'll buzz on contact and you lose your turn even if you managed to grab the item!"

He had no idea where she got these ideas from but they were so different from each other! Monopoly one day and Chesu another! Now this!

It sounded fun though. Probably not something shinobi would be into if it required a steady hand. Shinobi _had_ to have steady hands after all. But the civilians would lap it up! And if it would end up in other countries, then it would definitely be popular!

"Sounds cool!"

* * *

**Name:** Yuuki  
**Age:** 12  
**Birthday:** May 1st  
**Father:** Unknown  
**Mother:** Unknown  
**Blood Type:** O-  
**Health Notes:** Has Polycystic Ovary Syndrome & Dextrocardia Situs Inversus. See Health page for additional details on what these are.  
**Hair:** Black  
**Eyes:** Black  
**Skin:** Fair  
**Distinguishing Characteristics:** Single mole on the left clavicle, double jointed elbows, and a round scar on the inside of the left ankle.

**STATISTICS:**

**Ninjutsu:** 2.5/5  
**Taijutsu:** 2.5/5_(with an upgrade to 3/5 with chakra strikes)_  
**Genjutsu:** 1/5  
**Intelligence:** 3/5  
**Strength:** 2/5_(with an upgrade to 3/5 with chakra strikes)_  
**Speed:** 2/5  
**Stamina:** 1.5/5  
**Hand Seals:** 2.5/5  
**TOTAL:** 17_(or 18.5)_

**EXTRA:**

**CHAKRA CONTROL:**  
**Kunai Balancing:** 5/5  
**Tree Walking:** 5/5  
**Water Walking:** 5/5  
**Katon Chakra Manipulation:** 3.5/5  
**Shape Manipulation:** 3/5  
**Chakra Threads:** 2.5/5

**Notes from Chunin Umino Iruka:**

_Yuuki-san has been an exemplary student despite her yearly grading outside her Genin Exam suggesting otherwise. She is quick to pick up on trends and question them. She is great at blending in undetected. Yuuki-san is blunt with her thoughts and opinions and is a master of malicious compliance to get her point across if necessary. While she declares herself lazy, I firmly believe the opposite even if she swears by the '**Lazy Man's Load**'. I've never seen someone work so hard to not do work before._

_She has always taken the shinobi path seriously and truly considers everything before she latches onto anything. Yuuki-san will not devote herself to anything carelessly. Expect her to seem uninterested, though I warn you that this is just her face. She is always calculating everything and pays close attention to minute details often overlooked by others. She is very invested in her surroundings, her resting expression is just naturally set against her intentions._

"Her stats are pretty good for a green Genin," said Shizune as she looked over her new Apprentice's paperwork. "The lowest stats from her class was 15 and the highest was 19. I'd say she's pretty promising. And the section on her chakra control is fantastic for a Genin her age who studied in the Academy outside of wartime!"

They'd make a medic out of her yet. And it wouldn't take as long as it would for many others. "She's already enrolled herself into the Medical Classes at the Hospital!"

Tsunade slung back a shot of sake. "Intelligence?"

"Three out of five."

"Ninjutsu?"

"Two and a half out of five."

"Taijutsu?"

"Two and a half _or_ three out of five if we factor in added chakra. I suppose perfect execution means little when you can break someone's ribs with a single punch as a Genin."

The Hokage nodded. "Remember that she also chose to remain in the middle of the class when she would have graduated earlier. Poverty and laziness compelled her to not try as hard, but now that she's graduated and will have a well-paying job, she won't be getting chances to waste her potential."

That was true. If they got her to a certain level it didn't matter the mission rank, she'd be sent on the mission anyway if her skills qualified her for it regardless of her rank as a shinobi.

"I want the brat to be brought to my office when you collect her on Sunday. While you conduct your own test, I will be conducting one of my own."

Getting Shizune as a Jonin instructor basically meant getting Tsunade as well, so of course her shishou would join in. Tsunade made it explicitly clear that she wouldn't be teaching any Genin again or taking on personal students, but that didn't mean she wouldn't butt in if she thought she had to. Yuuki would be exposed to Tsunade more than anyone other than Shizune and that was a hard fact.

Of course this meant she'd probably end up fetching the woman sake more often than not.

* * *

Yuuki shivered, feeling as if she should be wary despite nothing in her immediate vicinity being concerning. Well, paperwork could totally be considered a concern as it was lengthy and had this sort of cocky attitude about it that made her want to rip her own eyes out.

With her new step into adulthood, she had to review her lease and set up a payment plan if she wanted to continue living in the apartment. they'd already gotten their first rent bills and hadn't even been given a chance to live in the dump for another month before having to pay either.

And so she was sitting in the manager's office, going over the paperwork because it was necessary if she wanted to get what she wanted out of this exchange.

"So you want 10,000 Ryo a month for a bed/bath/kitchen combo that has water damaged ceilings, chipping paint, rotting and creaking floorboards, no heat, painted shut windows, lack of water pressure, black mold in the bathrooms, and walls so thin we can hear the breathing of the other residents?"

The manager of the complex in question, one old bitch named Momo who had ties to Konoha's Council supposedly, sputtered at Yuuki's accusations. Like she'd never been talked to in such a way before. Well, if that was the case, her cherry was about to be popped.

Yuuki had come prepared for this meeting! Usually she'd be annoyed over having to do extra work, but when it came to ruining a terrible person's life, she wanted the revenge to be worth it.

An envelope in a hideous shade of tan was slapped down on the desk between them. Out spilled dozens of incriminating photographs. "I took photos as proof and have copies. They're from two different apartments from two different floors in this complex. Black mold is a health-code violation in Konoha, let alone the substandard care you've given this place. I have someone ready at a moment's notice to barge into the Hokage's office and inform him that this building isn't being properly managed and that it looks like a serious case of landlord harassment if you've done nothing towards the proper maintenance of this complex. The other tenants don't have good things to say about their dealings with you and would be willing to write letters for me if you don't do what I want. The Hokage doesn't like his shinobi being so rudely treated."

Yes, she was blackmailing the woman. No, she didn't care about the old bitch's feelings. She was shit to Naruto and when it came to Naruto, he was Yuuki's main ride or die.

"What do you want from me?" the old woman demanded, looking at the photos in horror. Her face had gone deliciously pale and her hands had begun to shake in fear.

A sweet smile that was so fake it made her cheeks hurt, graced Yuuki's face. She was pleased to be taken seriously because she was being serious. "I'm so glad you asked!

**First:** You will cease secreting away portions of the rent for yourself. You don't own this complex, you were just put in charge of it and the village pays you handsomely for it. You don't need any money beyond that lovely check.

**Second:** You will lower everyone's rent by ⅝ the price you are charging them since I know you only raised their prices so you could keep their money.

**Third:** You will take the amount your have stolen up until this moment, and use all of it to fix this hellhole up the way it is meant to be fixed. I don't care if you go broke over it.

**Fourth:** You will not withhold on calling for maintenance whenever it is needed, nor will you question why it is needed or refuse to pay the prices hen they come up.

**Fifth:** You will not attempt in any way to sabotage this agreement either by your own hand or someone else's. Which includes telling no one outside of me - living or dead and animate or inanimate - about this conversation. Not to someone's face, not when they're in earshot, not in written form, not in coded form, not in any form of sign language currently existing or yet-to-be created, and not even under interrogation.

**Sixth:** You will put all of these expectations into writing and then sign it and hand it over to me for safekeeping. And know that if you renege on our agreement I will ruin your good reputation in this village without hesitation because it's nothing more than what you deserve."

The intensifying of the shaking of the old woman's hands was a pleasing sight. Yuuki felt like she'd just won a war.

* * *

"Hey, who's the kid?"

Naruto looked behind him, aware that Konohamaru wasn't visibly following him but was there anyway. "That's Jiji's grandson. Konohamaru. He's declared me his rival for the position of Hokage. We bullied his sensei because the guy was a real dick. And now he follows me everywhere and tries to catch me off guard."

He expected Yuuki to ask more questions, but instead, she just shrugged and looped an arm around his shoulders. "Be ready for low rent. I got what I wanted and the whole complex is going to see better days from now on."

She actually did it! Holy crap! He was kind of terrified.

"Are we getting ramen to celebrate?"

"Ugh! Fine. Ask the kid if he wants to come. It'd be a dick move to eat with him watching and not invite him along."

"Hey, Konohamaru!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder. "Want to come and get ramen with us?"

And just like that, the boy appeared in a puff of poorly executed smoke from where he'd been trying to blend into a nearby fence. The kid coughed for several seconds as he tried fanning the smoke away. "Sure thing, boss!"

"Boss?" asked Yuuki, a smirk on her face.

"He keeps flipping back a forth between boss and brother, I don't really know what to do about it," the blond confessed. It wasn't his fault the kid had a wild imagination!

"Let's hope your ramen addiction doesn't scare him away."

"It is not an addiction, it is a way of life! -ttebayo!"

"Addictions technically become routines and routines are ways of living, so I'm still right."

Technicalities sucked when Yuuki was involved! She was good at talking and naruto wasn't very good at listening, so it was a bit hard to work around her big words. Naruto learned by doing, not reading or hearing.

"Come on, Konohamaru! I don't wanna miss out on all the food!"

"You won't miss anything. If they can afford to make you seventeen bowls in a row during a lunch rush, you're not going to miss out."

* * *

"Three teams are already assured. They'll be you, Sasuke, and Sakura. Then Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino. And then Hinata, Shino, and Kiba. There is no doubt in my mind with how ranking and clan history works, so stop worrying."

Yuuki also knew about Ino-Shika-Cho being a thing, so of course. And Sasuke and Sakura were technically at the top of the class even if they didn't have the best grades in everything. And Shikamaru was at the bottom, but since his team was settled before he even entered the Academy, someone had to fit in the place of '_worst_' and Naruto was too talented to not give to a Jonin of good repute. Too many of the other students didn't give off the vibe of managing Jonin sensei for long.

As for Yuuki, she was enrolling instantly in the medical courses at the Hospital. She'd already read through the introduction to the basic course and prepared her chakra control exercises ahead of time. Her grades from the Academy would be passed along and get her into a good class. The chances of her being relegated to Genin Corps were low as her chakra control made her someone worth taking a chance on.

So even if she didn't get a Jonin sensei or got one the didn't want students of their own - which was an all too common thing among shinobi - then she'd be set.

Naruto was too busy worrying about everything to really calm down though. He'd confessed to wanting to be on Sasuke's team, but then also wanting to be on Sakura's team. Finding out he'd be on both made his face go red and saw him collapsing dramatically on the ground with his hands over his face.

"Are the theatrics necessary?" she asked, wondering just what was so wrong with him getting what he wanted.

"It's so hard! Sakura-chan is so pretty!"

Well… she wasn't exactly Yuuki's type but her coloring did make her stand out and her obsession with her appearance made her put way too much effort into maintaining perfect skin and makeup and hair and stuff Yuuki never cared to learn about. So yeah, Naruto wasn't wrong.

She certainly wasn't ugly, but Hinata was cuter by far. Of course Yuuki could just be biased because Hinata was actually her friend and a good person.

"And Sasuke is pretty too!"

Her head snapped around, eyeing the blond up in a new light as understanding flowed forth. He had crushes on both of his future teammates. That was unexpected.

Sasuke though? He was just so… broody.

"What do you see in the Uchiha that makes you so tongue-tied?" she asked, wanting to understand. He was far more attractive than Sakura or Hinata, which was just the plain truth, but his personality was just so… one dimensional at the moment.

Though she didn't have much to talk about when her crush on Shikamaru came into the picture. He was pretty one dimensional too come to think about it. No effort was put into anything, even portraying a character to the world. So yeah…. Maybe Naruto saw something she didn't, since she something in Shikamaru other's apparently didn't.

"I gave him a tomato on February 14th and in return he gave me all the chocolate he was given. And days after we sat side by side in an abandoned classroom, just eating. And it was quiet. And nice. And he thanked me out loud and asked me to go spar with him so I did. And we sparred and he gave me advice on how to make my flow better, and has really soft hands and asked if I wanted to do it again some time, so every now and then we spar together and it's fun and he's really strong and pins me a lot and I get a really good chance to notice things in that kind of position, you know!"

All in one breath.

Naruto's sexual awakening. At age twelve. Not shocked, she'd had hers at ten. And Sasuke was about to be thirteen with Naruto not far behind so basically teens if the months in the womb counted.

"This isn't gonna like, affect your teamwork, will it?"

"I don't know!"

* * *

"I'm ready to pick up the goods."

Tenten beamed. "I think you'll like the hatchets! They were really fun to design!" She went to the back of the shop for a few minutes and came back with a tray that had said weapons lined up evenly so she could see them all clearly.

Yuuki took up one of them, testing the grip which was made with detachable rubbed string. Heavy duty by the looks of up. This would protect her hand if she ever lost her gloves. The holes were in the handles, just as she wanted. She quickly tested how useful the Chakra Thread(*cough* rope *cough*) would be. The chakra form held even as she swung the weapon around several times for good measure.

"I like your new clothes," commented Tenten. "The others looked really tight on you and you looked very uncomfortable."

"I was. I wanted to wait until I actually graduated before spending the money though. How much do I owe you?"

Her wallet was ready to be hurt.

"Originally it was 15,000 Ryo but with your first time discount, it's 12,000 Ryo. We do sharpen and polish any weapons that were purchased from us for free though. Any time you want."

That was pretty good. The kunai and shuriken pack cost only 1/12 of that price she knew. Custom-made weaponry always meant more money would be spent. "Thanks for helping, TenTen-san."

She waved Yuuki off, accepting her payment with a grin. "We should go train. I get off in a few minutes anyway and I've been looking forward to a rematch. Sparring my teammates gets a bit dull because both are just so obviously better than I am."

"Sure." She had nothing else to do and it would be a good chance to get used to the hatchets and integrating them into her fighting style.

The hatchets were hooked onto the packs on her thighs by their rubber strings. Perhaps she should get a custom-made holder for them?

Either way, her Genin outfit was officially finished and she was ready to take on any challenge!

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done!**

**How was it? Let me know.**

**Ja ne! :D**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Hello, people!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I have no beta.**

**ENJOY!**

**CHECK ME OUT ON TUMBLR. HELLY-WATERMELONSMELLINFELLON.**

**TAGS: DRAMA, hints of SASUNARU.**

-Sorry this is late. I've been pulled in every direction recently. Cleaning,  
assisting mom to the doctor, shopping, and being damn miserable for no  
obvious reasons. Also PMS.

-This chapter was finished I guess you could say, but I just did not have  
the energy to edit it. I never post without at least combing through once.

* * *

Shikamaru swapped his common studs for his elemental ones. Since his life as a shinobi was officially starting now, he knew how important it was to have something up his sleeve. Even in his own village, where he was supposed to be the safest, it wouldn't be smart to leave his guard down.

The order in which they would be worn, would be Fire in the lobes, then Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind going up the cartilage of the ear.

Yuuki wore hers as Fire, Lightning, Earth, Water, and then Wind. He didn't know why he'd taken note of it, but he had for some reason. She'd never deviated from it either. At least it would be an easy way to tell her apart from an impostor if worst came to worst.

"Shikamaru, you're going to be late!" his mother yelled from the kitchen, making him groan. He knew he was fighting the inevitable, but it was still so annoying having to walk to school.

But he'd get to see his friends, which was a good thing.

"Here's your bento. Try not to chew anyone's head off today," Yoshino said once he was downstairs.

"Chewing people out is too much of a drag, kaa-chan."

She rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder. "Tell Yuuki-chan to visit more often. I need another girl or sense around the house!"

"Mah!"

He didn't know why his parents took to Yuuki so well. Maybe it was her lucrative mind. Or her frank behavior. or the fact that she got their son to not be as lazy as he usually was.

At least they liked her and didn't ever tell him to avoid her. He knew some clans, like the Hyuga, would not be happy if their Heir was in regular contact with someone not of a political station they desired.

It was stupid in his opinion. It sucked that Hinata had to live in such a clan. If Yuuki knew how much trouble Hinata got into for being her friend, she'd probably stomp into the Hyuga Compound and curse Hyuga Hiashi's ears red.

He'd pay to see that actually. That _wouldn't_ be troublesome.

* * *

The day had arrived with the students coming in around ten as instructed to. The whole of class 5-A_(all twenty-eight of them)_ would be separated into their shinobi duties. Iruka had been all kinds of emotional that morning, smiling at them and congratulating them on such hard work. He said that he was proud of their success and couldn't wait to see how far they went.

Of course this prompted Naruto into tears and saw him tackling the man in a hug. By then it was public knowledge that Iruka was like an older brother figure to Naruto and all of the students who used to be jealous of the attention the blond received, got over it. It wasn't as if Iruka was unfair with his attention anyway. And he never showed favoritism in class so being jealous of an orphan getting some positive attention was kind of pointless as most of them got it every day at home from someone they were related to.

"Okay, Naruto, I have to get to the teams. Go sit with your friends."

"Sure, sensei!"

And lo and behold! Yuuki had been right all along! The teams she'd guessed at were exactly as she'd said they'd be. She was a genius. Fear her awesome powers of deduction! And common sense. Yuuki was mostly just overflowing with common sense.

Additionally though… "Yuuki-chan, your sensei will be picking you up right before lunch due to scheduling issues. You've earned an Apprenticeship with Kato Shizune, in Iryo Ninjutsu."

Unexpected. She knew it had been the most likely choice for her considering her chakra control, and had already registered for the course at the hospital, but to get an Apprenticeship? Not just standard hospital classes but an actual Jonin medic to coach her along? A living, breathing person who would be there for her personal attention?

It was pretty cool. And she was very fortunate too, she didn't neglect to understand that bit. Not many people got to be apprenticed to someone. And honestly, even if she got it for something she wasn't even interested in, she would have sucked it up and dealt, because it was such a rare thing to happen that being grateful for it was more important.

"You don't seem bothered by the potential hard work this will bring," said Shikamaru, head resting on his folded arms, but tilted enough for him to look at her clearly. He had such nice eyes and eyelashes. I wasn't fair. They were simply dark but fit his face so well. His face was symmetrical and she was dying!

She shrugged, pushing away her raging feelings over a cute boy to focus on more important things. "I already knew it would come to this in a sense. My grades in science were so-so because I hate it and put in only the requisite effort on tests, but I'm great at memorization and medical basics, and made certain to prepare ahead of time for this. Genjutsu is boring and uninteresting and requires self-study and fieldwork since there's one person in this village who specializes in it. Iryo Ninjutsu requires for most medics to stand still and not have to do battle. Also I'll be in the village a lot as the classes evolve in difficulty so that's good enough for me. And the hospital is closer to my apartment than the Academy."

There was only one Genjutsu Master in Konoha. It was one of those branches of the shinobi arts that was self-taught. And with no more Uchiha around to coach people through training, it had practically died off with only one Jonin specializing in it in their village. It was just that boring to people. If you can escape one, then you're fine for the most part. Learn something else that was actually useful.

Shikamaru shook his head, a small smirk on his face. "You are something else."

"Meh. How do you feel about your team's future?"

"Mah! I have Choji and Ino's gotten that wake up call so it's all good. I know she'll be bossy, but it'll be tolerable now. And Choji will be a buffer so it's fine."

Said boy sent his long-time friend a grateful look and Yuuki smiled at their relationship. It was nice to see. She'd heard gossip from jealous civilian kids that Nara were too lazy to care about anyone and in her experience that just wasn't true. Shikamaru cared very much for a lot of people and was mindful of their feelings to the best of his ability. She wouldn't have a crush on him if it was otherwise. And he was loyal as hell. That was a very attractive trait in a person.

The new Genin milled around, Yuuki's row staying in their seats and their friends coming over to take the row in front of them. Hinata nearly fainted from having Naruto so close while Shino remained quiet and observant as always.

"We should still meet up whenever we can!" suggested Naruto. "We can play Yuuki's games and just have a good time."

The others voiced their agreement and she held up a hand. "Just not at my apartment. My neighbors on either side are really into bumpin' uglies at all hours of the day. One's a young couple and the other has her clients over all the time. You'd think she'd move out eventually but I guess it's just better to have nice things in a shitty apartment than have a nice apartment and shitty things." It kind of made sense, while also making no sense to her.

"And you fixed the rent issues so now no one sane would leave now," Naruto pointed out.

"True."

"What?" asked the rest of the group in confusion.

Naruto became even more animated than before, recounting the situation that Yuuki had put their complex manager in. He was a good story-teller, and got some good laughs from their friends about how devious Yuuki was. Shikamaru was staring at her though, like she was something knew he hadn't ever seen before.

"What?" she asked him.

"Nothing."

Weird.

The tale of her cunning ways was interrupted by the loud squealing of the fangirls who had all converged upon Sasuke's position once they'd been left to their own devices. There were six of them surrounding the last loyal Uchiha and until now their words had been reduced to a low din.

Now they were loud, crying about not being on his team, asking him out on dates, asking after his plans for his career, etc… The usual kind of invasive questioning.

He never answered. He remained stoic. Even with Ino and Sakura fighting over who got to sit closest to him in their row every four seconds, he held himself together. She had to admire his self-control because if it was her, she'd start throwing fists of chakra for her personal space to be returned. Yuuki did not have that kind of enviable self-restraint.

A groan came from Naruto, who looked a bit put out, eyes narrowed upon Ino's arms that were wrapped around one of Sasuke's. She was holding on as best as possible while Sakura was trying to bodily yank her off their crush. Nothing was working out for any of them and the other girls crowded closer in an attempt to establish dominance.

One would think they'd learn after the hair loss prank, but nooooo. That was simply too much to ask for.

"Why don't you go and save him?" Yuuki suggested to her blond friend, a smirk in place. He could be the hero his crush desperately needed.

Obviously the option hadn't occurred to him before as his near-mutinous expression brightened with sunlight, and he was out of his seat and across the room in seconds.

The blond hovered on the outside of the group of fangirls, looking back and forth as he decided what to do. His friends watched with interest to see how he'd go about saving Sasuke from his stalkers.

He created a Kage Bunshin and just as Fangirl #3 tackled Sasuke from behind which knocked him forward, the Bunshin used the Kawarimi with the Uchiha, placing him beside Naruto. The problem was that it was unexpected and he was still in a seated position, slightly hunched over and now falling down the stairs. The original Naruto reacted just quick enough to grab his hand and switch their positions, but it was too late as gravity had caught hold of them both and they went tumbling down the steps together.

Dropped jaws all around. Hinata let out a loud squeak and fainted into Shino's lap instantly. He thankfully caught her around the waist so she didn't tumble to the floor in a heap.

Sasuke had landed on top of Naruto and had just taken Naruto's first kiss. And since Yuuki had inside information, she knew that the blond was dying inside and not for the reasons their classmates probably assumed.

"Well then," she murmured to herself, "not what I had expected but good material anyway. I'll never let him live it down." He'd blush so much over it! "His dreams have been realized," she added quietly.

As Sasuke was on top, it was him in control of the... kiss. And he wasn't moving, which she found to be interesting.

Their free entertainment was cut short when the classroom door slid open to reveal a fair-skinned woman. Her hair and eyes were as dark as Yuuki's and judging by height, she wasn't that much taller than Yuuki either. Said hair was cut in a shoulder-length bob with a fringe. The kimono she wore was black with white trimming and an equally white obi. A hint of mesh armor could be seen at the fold of the cloth. She lacked a hitai-ate though but was obviously a shinobi of decent experience judging by how she carried herself.

It was like an older version of Yuuki had just walked in the door.

The woman paused to take in the view they'd all been watching, and then turned to the room and said, "Is Yuuki-san here?"

"Present," the girl in question said with a wave of the hand.

"I am Kato Shizune," the woman said with a small bow. "I am to be your shishou from this point onward. Tsunade-sama has requested our presence before lunch so if you'll follow me, we can begin our new journey together."

Holy shit. There was only one Tsunade. She was a legendary medic who had taken on only _one_ Apprentice in her lifetime. And now Yuuki was an Apprentice to that Apprentice. The Apprentice who got all of Tsunade's teaching, tips, and tricks.

Yuuki had been handed over to them. She didn't get a Genin team but she got a badass and her niece/Apprentice. Tsunade had been re-hauling the hospital for the past couple of months since her return to the village. She would have a say in Yuuki's training for sure since she improved upon the classes the hospital was teaching.

Damn.

Yuuki sent her friends the peace sign and followed her new superior out of the room.

Goodbye to a life of easy work and low effort. She'd send up a prayer in remembrance to the gods she didn't believe in later.

* * *

Shizune had seen the profile and knew what Yuuki looked like ahead of time as her photo had been right at the top of the page beside her statistics. Still, seeing her in person was enough to make her pause. She was perfectly aware of the fact that she had never been pregnant and therefore couldn't have birthed a child. Nor did she give up any of her eggs. So despite the likeness being eerie, they could not be related in that way.

Since none of her relatives lived to see their twenties besides Dan, they couldn't be related that way either.

Yuuki's blood tests even came back with unknown parents. Her parents probably hadn't even been Konoha citizens as she and a few others came from the orphanage that had been outside the village a good distance, that suffered in the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack. That building had been wrecked and the children still alive were brought to Konoha and remained there permanently.

Yuuki was quiet and as her notes stated, looked dead bored with everything going on, but if one looked closer, it was easy to tell her eyes were sharp and flicking back and forth in assessment of her surroundings at all times.

Tsunade's office was on the bottom floor of the hospital and her desk was surrounded by medical texts and diagrams. Despite being the greatest medic alive, she still had a lot to learn in their field of study and worked every day to invent new treatments or to improve pre-existing treatments.

When the two entered her office, she placed her paperwork down and folded her hands beneath her chin. "Sit," she ordered them. "Let's talk. I ordered some sushi that will be delivered in a few minutes."

They took the offered chairs in front of her desk and waited.

"Shizune has been my Apprentice for many years. In Konoha standards she has received her Mastery and that is why she is allowed to take you on as an Apprentice. My personal standards disagree so while she legally is no longer my student, she still seeks training and teaching under me. We continue to grow and learn together. You are going to join this little team of ours. When I have time I will teach you something I know personally, however in general, Shizune is your Master in this regard. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Tsunade-hime."

"You will refer to me as sensei. It sounds less pompous than that ridiculous formality shit people insist on around here all because of who I am related to."

"Yes, sensei," the girl instantly amended.

"Good. Now tell us about yourself."

At least Tsunade-sama seemed accepting of the girl. She looked interested instead of annoyed and didn't use the tone she frequently used when addressing the Hokage's council. That meant she at least partially respected the girl.

"What do you want me to say exactly?" Yuuki asked, face still relatively blank.

Shizune stepped in then. "Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, special skills, preferred weapon of choice, favorite food, least favorite food, and favorite color would be a good start." It would help them get to know her personally. Paperwork only went so far.

The girl hummed for a moment, blinking a few times as she put her thoughts in order.

"Okay. I like food and sleep in no particular order. I dislike all the adults in the village who went against the Hokage's orders and broke the law just to sabotage my best friend. My hobbies include inventing new board games and then mass-marketing them with the aid of Nara Shikaku. I don't really have dreams or ambitions beyond never being poor again and never getting into debt. My special skills involve holding my breath underwater for seven minutes and thirteen seconds, very precise chakra control, and apparently the ability to rotate my eyes in different directions at different speeds if I want. I prefer to use hatchets as weapons and already have a set that was custom made for me. My fav food is rice, my least favs are eggplant, hazelnuts, and liver. I like black more than anything because any color goes with it so as long as black is the most of what is used. One colored item will match no matter what. I don't have a sense of fashion but I don't want to mix up clothes that don't match and end up looking stupid either."

She got all of that out in a single breath and her face barely moved the entire time. It was a bit unnerving, but Shizune kept her smile up, not wanting to discourage the girl or anything.

And the new information they'd received - such as inventing board games, using hatchets as shinobi weapons, and being able to hold her breath for so long - helped build a more solid profile on the girl and her character. It wasn't often that newly graduated Genin would already be so sure of themselves.

At least hatchets were a long-range weapon and could keep enemies far away while she improved herself.

* * *

"Everyone has left already!" Naruto groaned as he flopped around in the new seat he'd been forced to take beside Sasuke.

After Yuuki had left, he'd been on his own basically, in handling the whole kiss scene, since none of his other friends knew what to do about it. Sasuke hadn't mentioned anything about it either, but he'd taken his damn sweet time moving!

But he was also very soft, which was so weird since he was always training and always working hard. Never did Naruto think he'd lose his first kiss to Sasuke of all people, but he had to admit, at least privately, that it wasn't a bad kiss. For one that wasn't planned or asked for, it still went pretty well!

Also, Sasuke yelled at his fangirls when some of them tried to attack Naruto for ruining their '_chances_' or some such crap!

So, him being him, decided to stick his tongue out at the collected fangirls and say, "I know what Sasuke tastes like and none of you will ever find out! So why don't you go suck on a lemon!"

His declaration got him a myriad of glares, but none of them could do anything because Sasuke yanked him into the now-free seat beside him and told him not to move or else. Obviously he didn't mind Naruto's words all that much and none of them wanted to get on his bad side or risk losing their '_chances_'.

"Just be patient," Sasuke told him in response to his whining about their late sensei.

"I'm not known for patience."

That got him a small smirk from the Uchiha, who didn't try to argue because it was just the plain truth. Naruto was too energetic and too excitable and had too many things on his mind all the time. How was he supposed to focus when nothing interesting was happening?!

"Mmmuuuuhhhhhhhh!"

Both boys glanced to their right, where Sakura was seated on the other side of Naruto, away from Sasuke. Her forehead was resting on the desk and she had been downtrodden all afternoon while they waited. She didn't want to be on a team with Naruto, and didn't like how Sasuke seemed to prefer Naruto's presence over hers. It made the blond want to wiggle his ass in her face and go '_neh neh ne-neh neh!_'.

He didn't know where this spiteful side of him came from, but maybe he was just sick and tired of being overlooked and treated terribly by her. Sakura was pretty and book smart, and that was about it. The only good thing about him being on a team with her was being able to look at her up close now, and that was it.

The door to the room slid open, drawing their attention to the Jonin was walked in. He was tall, with silver hair that defied gravity and a face mostly covered by a mask and his hitai-ate.

It was a shame that Yuuki wasn't there to see what he looked like. Naruto would give anything to hear her opinion!

"Based on first impressions," the Jonin said in a lazy tone, "you're all boring."

And he was a jerk.

* * *

Kakashi knew they he would eventually be getting some ducklings of his own, but he hadn't expected to get them all so very soon! Surely he had a few years to go? Had time really passed by him so quickly?

He tried to think of the last time he truly complained about how slow things were going, and realized that it was most likely before the traitor Mizuki was discovered under the Hokage's orders. Barely existing from day to day had abruptly changed as the shinobi system of Konoha began to change.

Things at the Academy began shifting and the education of their future soldiers was suddenly improved. Mizuki's actions lead to the discovery of Danzo's deceit and betrayal. The extent of which was still being carefully pored over to this day. Tsunade-sama had returned to the village with her Apprentice and had taken up her place at the hospital once again, improving the classes taught there as well.

Soon they would have more experienced medics out on the field and their fatality rate, which was the lowest among the Five Great Nations already, would lower even more.

Everything was better than before, and with all of these improvements, it was easy to get lost in it all. It made sense that he hadn't realized how quickly time had gone past him, because for the first time in years, he felt at least mildly content.

And no matter what he did, he couldn't put it off any longer, so Kakashi accepted the files on his new students, and got to learning about them so he wouldn't be surprised when finally meeting them in person.

**Name:** Uzumaki Naruto  
**Age:** 12  
**Birthday:** October 10th  
**Father:** **[Redacted]**  
**Mother:** **[Redacted]**  
**Blood Type:** B  
**Health Notes:** No sign of any health conditions. Accelerated Healing Factor. Unaffected by poison.  
**Hair:** Blond  
**Eyes:** Blue  
**Skin:** Tan_(Medium)_  
**Distinguishing Characteristics:** Three whisker-like marking on each cheek.

**STATISTICS:**

**Ninjutsu:** 3/5  
**Taijutsu:** 2/5  
**Genjutsu:** 0/5  
**Intelligence:** 2/5  
**Strength:** 3/5  
**Speed:** 3/5  
**Stamina:** 4/5  
**Hand Seals:** 2/5  
**TOTAL:** 19

**EXTRA:**

**CHAKRA CONTROL:**  
**Kunai Balancing:** 3/5  
**Tree Walking:** 5/5  
**Water Walking:** 5/5  
**Futon Chakra Manipulation:** 5/5  
**Shape Manipulation:** 3/5

**Notes from Chunin Umino Iruka:**

_Naruto-kun has come a long way, proving that under the proper guidance and attention, he can excel at anything he puts his mind to. His attitude it always chipper and he's always willing to help people as much as he can. His loyalty and work ethic are to be commended. Even when faced with undeserved cruelty from the people of the village, Naruto never lost his goodness and it is that fact, along with everything else I know about him, that make me truly believe that will attain his dream of being the Hokage some day._

He'd grown considerably from the time he was being sabotaged by Mizuki. Kakashi was proud of his sensei's son. Without having anyone there for half of his life, he'd ended up doing pretty well.

A 19 as his total in shinobi statistics was very good considering in years past, Genin would have maybe 15 if they were lucky. But 19 was the highest number anyone in the class had received, which was impressive. The lowest was a 15, so the former highest score was now the lowest, and Kakashi was very pleased by those changes.

**Name:** Uchiha Sasuke  
**Age:** 12  
**Birthday:** July 23rd  
**Father:** Uchiha Fugaku  
**Mother:** Uchiha Mikoto  
**Blood Type:** AB  
**Health Notes:** Has improved eyesight compared to a normal human's. Unidentified reasoning. Has PTSD and Depression. See additional notes on his Medical Page for more details.  
**Hair:** Black  
**Eyes:** Black  
**Skin:** Fair  
**Distinguishing Characteristics:** Slight blue tint to his dark hair, double eyelids, and three fully-functioning kidneys.

**STATISTICS:**

**Ninjutsu:** 3/5  
**Taijutsu:** 3/5  
**Genjutsu:** 1/5  
**Intelligence:** 3/5  
**Strength:** 2/5  
**Speed:** 3/5  
**Stamina:** 2/5  
**Hand Seals:** 2/5  
**TOTAL:** 19

**EXTRA:**

**CHAKRA CONTROL:**  
**Kunai Balancing:** 5/5  
**Tree Walking:** 5/5  
**Water Walking:** 5/5  
**Katon Chakra Manipulation:** 5/5  
**Shape Manipulation:** 5/5

**Notes from Chunin Umino Iruka:**

_I have personally witnessed Sasuke-san become more open as the school years have passed. Ever since we upgraded the curriculum, he's been presented with more of a challenge and has less time to brood in his misery. This successfully keeps him distracted, and distractions are good for him. He recently attended a birthday party of one of the other Clan Heirs, and his friendship with Naruto-kun has blossomed considering in their free time. They even spar often._

_While there are lingering effects of **that night**, I believe he is getting better. He's much more pleasant these days, and seems less likely to expire at the first sign of stress._

Sasuke had also grown as well. While the shadow of his older brother was something he'd never truly escape, things had improved in his personal life as well. He was less inclined to moping these days.

He and Naruto being tied with 19 points was very good, especially since their strengths were different.

Their Chakra Natures were very interesting and could make for some good combinations later on.

**Name:** Haruno Sakura  
**Age:** 12  
**Birthday:** March 28th  
**Father:** Haruno Kizashi  
**Mother:** Haruno Mebuki  
**Blood Type:** O  
**Health Notes:** A strange and unexplained weakness in the left dorsal tubercle. An abnormal amount of white blood cells. 50% Hearing Loss in the left ear.  
**Hair:** Pink  
**Eyes:** Green  
**Skin:** Fair_(Sensitive)_  
**Distinguishing Characteristics:** A wide forehead and a mole on her left shoulder blade.

**STATISTICS:**

**Ninjutsu:** 2/5  
**Taijutsu:** 1/5  
**Genjutsu:** 4/5  
**Intelligence:** 4/5  
**Strength:** 1/5  
**Speed:** 1/5  
**Stamina:** 1/5  
**Hand Seals:** 2/5  
**TOTAL:** 16

**EXTRA:**

**CHAKRA CONTROL:**  
**Kunai Balancing:** 5/5  
**Tree Walking:** 5/5  
**Water Walking:** 5/5  
**Suiton Chakra Manipulation:** 3/5  
**Shape Manipulation:** 3/5

**Notes from Chunin Umino Iruka:**

_Has an obsession with Sasuke-san that interferes with her work ethic. Has a cruel streak toward people that aren't Sasuke-san, which is concerning. Is on poor terms with both Sasuke-san and Naruto-kun. Refuses to take Sasuke-san's refusals to date him and perpetually harasses him for attention. Is also obsessed with diet culture to a dangerous degree and regularly fasts to 'lose weight'. Needs an intervention of some sort._

_On the brighter side, she retains information perfectly. Probably has an eidetic memory. Her chakra control is very good as well. She could benefit from Genjutsu or Iryo Ninjutsu. And if she decides those aren't to her tastes, she could go into Cryptology or the Archives. Any of these fields would benefit from her presence given enough time, I'm certain._

He didn't know much about Sakura but the notes were... not great. She wasn't the worst he'd ever come across, but the obsession with the Uchiha brought up unpleasant memories. However, her skills _could_ be very useful if he found a way to bring them to the surface and _make_ them useful.

Overall, his team was going to have to deal with a lot of team-building exercises to make certain that Sakura's lack of skills didn't bring them all down. He of course wouldn't tell any of them that, as he didn't want to discourage her from working hard, but she was going to have to learn to pick up the slack.

D-Ranks were going to be hell on them all. He couldn't wait for the whining! D-Ranks were like the ninja form of hazing to an extent. Doing basic chores that rich people were simply too lazy to do themselves and loved flaunting that they could pay someone else to do them. Genin were basically glorified gardeners and babysitters if they weren't serving in war times.

Naruto was going to lose his mind when they had to paint someone's fence or six someone's roof. Maybe Kakashi would be especially cruel and find his ducklings the Tora Mission! It'd be nice to defeat the record set by his friend Gai's Genin.

Yes, that was a good plan.

* * *

**A/N: Another is done!**

**How was it? let me know!**

**Ja ne! :D**


End file.
